Star Wars Droid Depot Pride Collection
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Pulls apart
Retail: $12.99
Availability: May 2022
Appearances: n/a
Bio: A In celebration of Pride and the company's Pride collection, The Walt Disney Company is giving funds as part of our ongoing commitment to organizations around the world that support LGBTQ+ communities. (Taken from the packaging.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!
Commentary: The first BB droid in the Pride Collection and the second in the line, BB-PR0UD predated BB-YOU [FOTD #3,063] by about a year. Both make use of the same mold, but the color patterns are a little different. BB-YOU seemed to be more of a general riff on the traditional Pride flag, while BB-PR0UD... I don't know. There are a lot of different LGBTQ+ flags, as seen in the fun parties or on the backpacks of your better friends, but I can't quite place the specific dark indigo blue (I think) plastic with the specific splashes of color unless maybe someone is a fan of the Indigo Girls? I come at this from a place of ignorance, so use that comment field if you are the designer or are better informed than I.
The indigo base figure provides the manufacturer with a challenge when it comes to paint. Dark plastic will bleed through bright colors unless you apply thick, even layers of pigment on top. Hasbro and 1980s toymakers tended to forget this, which is why your Battle Beasts Hardtop Tortoise's orange armor looks a little sloppy even when it was new. On the other hand, anything Onell Design does tends to have significantly thick shells of shiny paint covering any blemishes. This droid has some issues with the orange and yellow being a bit thin for my taste, but you might be fine with it given that it gives the droid's fresh coat of paint a vaguely weathered look. In addition to six rainbow-ish colors, this droid also has silver and black highlights on some of the panels.
If you pop off the chassis, an inner gray orb has numerous painted silver elements plus a few red and blue lights. Kudos to Disney for having done it, it's detail a lot of fans will never see and it was back when these guys were a then-princely sum of $12.99. (You'll remember, Hasbro usually included BB droids as accessories rather than full-fledged action figures when it comes to smaller figure lines.)
In hindsight, I really don't get why Disney didn't just rerelease the in-demand and still expensive rarity R2-RNBW. This is fine - it's a unique color of BB droid with a lot lots of bright color flourishes, and I can't complain about that too much. But as a collector with thousands of figures (and about 10 of the 11 Pride Droids plus honorary members) this doesn't add much new to the overall collection. I assume Disney is done with BB droids unless we get a cameo in Starfighter or the Rey movie, and I hope we get a protocol droid next year, because I don't know what I need with more BB-series droids. The good news is that it's inexpensive on the secondary market, so there's nothing stopping you from picking a unique droid up today.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney Store's web site.
--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,358: June 30, 2026
