Grand Inquisitor — Star Wars The Black Series #OWK 09

Overview

The Grand Inquisitor at #OWK 09 is the Mural Collection’s villain leadership figure — the Pau’an head of the Inquisitorius who Obi-Wan kills in Episode 1 of the Disney+ series, who survives that apparent death to return for Episode 5, and whose figure captures the live-action version of a character previously known only from Star Wars Rebels animation. Released late 2022 (most collectors received the figure in early January 2023). Single-boxed, non-exclusive, MSRP $24.99. Four accessories: a soft-goods robe, a lightsaber hilt, and two removable red blades that combine into the signature spinning double-bladed Inquisitor weapon. The figure that completes the Mural Collection’s Inquisitor command structure.

The Pau’an Species and the Live-Action Translation

The Grand Inquisitor is a Pau’an, the same species as Tion Medon from Revenge of the Sith and other deep-cut prequel-era characters. Pau’ans are tall, gaunt, sharp-featured humanoids with distinctive facial markings — the species is one of Star Wars’ most visually distinctive non-human designs, and the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series committed to the Pau’an features for the live-action Grand Inquisitor (played by Rupert Friend) rather than de-emphasising the species in favour of more conventional human-passing makeup.

The figure honours that commitment. The head sculpt captures the Pau’an facial structure — the hollow cheeks, the pointed chin, the distinctive eye shape, the species-specific markings around the eyes and forehead. Hasbro nailed the head sculpt and the figure looks just like the Grand Inquisitor from the show. For collectors who care about Black Series figures capturing live-action likenesses cleanly, this is one of Phase 4’s better head sculpts.

The Star Wars Rebels Continuity

The Grand Inquisitor first appeared in Star Wars Rebels (animated) in 2014, voiced by Jason Isaacs, where the character served as the Inquisitorius leader and the primary antagonist for the show’s first season. He was killed in the Rebels season one finale. The Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series (2022) revealed that the Grand Inquisitor’s death in Rebels was preceded by a near-death in the Obi-Wan timeline — Reva stabs him in Episode 1 of Obi-Wan, he is presumed dead, and he returns in Episode 5 having survived. The Disney+ series therefore retroactively positions the Rebels character as the same Grand Inquisitor at an earlier point in his life.

The Rebels figure (Hasbro figure ID different from this one) and the Mural Collection figure are distinct collectibles — the Rebels version is the cleaner cartoon-design rendering, the Mural Collection version is the live-action design with the Rupert Friend likeness. For collectors building Inquisitor displays, the two figures together create a continuity readout: the Grand Inquisitor at the Obi-Wan Kenobi era (this figure) and the Grand Inquisitor at the Rebels era (the older Hasbro release). Both display well as the same character at different points in his story.

The Modular Lightsaber System

Four accessories total: the soft-goods robe, plus a three-piece lightsaber consisting of one hilt and two removable red blades. The lightsaber is the spinning double-bladed Inquisitor weapon — the signature weapon design that all Inquisitor characters share — and the two-blade modular configuration lets collectors display the saber in multiple states: full double-bladed activation, single-bladed activation (one blade removed and stowed), or hilt-only with both blades stowed. The hilt has two plug-in points sculpted into the back of the figure, which is the screen-accurate stowed position for the Inquisitor saber when not deployed.

The blades detach from the hilt cleanly and re-attach without becoming loose. The hilt fits well into both of the figure’s hands, supporting the two-handed wielding pose that Inquisitors use during their spin-attack sequences. This is the same modular lightsaber design language that Reva (#OWK 03) ships with, although Reva’s loadout is more elaborate (her version splits the hilt into two single sabers as well as offering blade-detach options).

The Soft-Goods Robe

The Inquisitor robe is sculpted as a separate soft-goods accessory rather than as integrated plastic. The robe removes easily for collectors who want to display the figure without it (showing off the chest armour and full body sculpt), and it fits cleanly when worn (no bulk at the shoulders, no awkward neck arrangement). For figures with prominent soft-goods elements, this is the test the design needs to pass — wear-on/wear-off has to be clean both ways — and the Grand Inquisitor’s robe passes the test.

The chest armour underneath the robe is not removable. Hasbro sculpted it as a fixed body element rather than as a removable overlay, which is the correct decision for the figure’s structural integrity but limits the customisation options for collectors who want to display the character in alternate-armour configurations. For the standard Inquisitor display, the fixed chest armour is the right approach.

The Soft-Plastic Shoulder Bell Trick

The figure shares an engineering detail with Reva (#OWK 03): the shoulder bells are sculpted from soft plastic. The reason is the same — soft-plastic shoulder bells let the arms move out of the way when raised above 90 degrees, which is the angle required for the two-handed double-bladed lightsaber poses and the over-the-head striking poses the show depicts. The trick lets the Grand Inquisitor adopt dynamic combat poses that hard-plastic shoulder bells would prevent.

This is the kind of small engineering choice that Hasbro applies to specific figures within a wave when the figure’s character requires it. Both Inquisitor figures in the Mural Collection (Reva and the Grand Inquisitor) use the soft-plastic shoulder bell approach. The Fifth Brother (#OWK 04) does not. The choice tracks with which figures are designed to be posed in combat configurations versus which are designed to be posed in commanding-stance configurations.

Articulation

18 joints. Ball-jointed top neck, ball-jointed lower neck, butterfly joints in the shoulders, swivel-hinged shoulders, swivel-hinged elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, ball-jointed upper body, barbell-jointed hip, swivel thighs, swivel-hinged knees, rocker ankles. The butterfly shoulder joints are the standout — they let the upper arms move forward independently of the shoulder swivel, which supports the two-handed weapon-cross poses and the cape-billowing display configurations. Combined with the soft-plastic shoulder bells, this gives the Grand Inquisitor the most poseable upper body in the Mural Collection’s Inquisitor sub-tier.

The figure stands well on display without losing balance, which matters because the cape and the prominent chest armour create a top-heavy silhouette that less stable figures would struggle with.

Sculpt and Paint

Hasbro nailed the head sculpt. The Pau’an facial features are screen-accurate, the Rupert Friend likeness reads correctly, and the paint application on the face — the species-specific markings, the eye colour, the lip and tooth painting — is sharp under display lighting. The paint application on the body is similarly clean: the buttons on the belt are individually picked out, the chest armour’s metal trim is highlighted appropriately, and the colour tone on the robe matches the dark grey-black of the Disney+ series costume.

The figure feels solid in hand, not hollow, and the build quality matches the other Mainline Mural Collection releases. The lightsaber hilt is sculpted with the silver highlights that catch the light during display, and the red blades are translucent in the way that captures the energy-blade visual effect under shelf lighting.

The Late Release Date

The Grand Inquisitor was released in late 2022 but most collectors did not actually receive the figure until early January 2023. This is the kind of distribution timing detail that doesn’t matter retrospectively — the figure shipped, collectors got it, the Mural Collection completed — but it matters for the historical record of the Mural Collection’s release sequence. The Grand Inquisitor is technically the last 2022 release in the collection, but functionally it is one of the earliest 2023 releases that Hasbro shipped.

For collectors completing the Mural Collection in chronological order, this is the cutover figure between the 2022 wave and the 2023 wave. The earlier 2022 releases (Wandering Jedi, Vader, Reva, Fifth Brother, Teeka) shipped in mid-to-late 2022. The 2023 releases (Tibidon Station Ben Kenobi, Jabiim Obi-Wan, the rest of the OWK collection) followed. The Grand Inquisitor sits at the seam.

Secondary Market

Single-boxed, non-exclusive, late-2022/early-2023 release. Available at or near MSRP on the secondary market. Verify both removable red blades are included — the modular saber design depends on both blades being present, and a Grand Inquisitor with one missing blade cannot do the full configuration range. Verify the soft-goods robe is undamaged. No production variants documented.

The Mural Collection Position

The Grand Inquisitor sits at the top of the Mural Collection’s Inquisitor command structure: above the Fifth Brother (#OWK 04), above Reva (#OWK 03), and below only Vader (#OWK 02) in the visual hierarchy. Loose display benefits from positioning the figure as the centre of an Inquisitor lineup, with Reva and the Fifth Brother flanking, the Purge Troopers (#OWK 07) standing as supporting force, and Vader behind the entire arrangement as the overall master. This is the screen-accurate command-structure display the show’s Inquisitorius operates within.

For collectors who want only one Inquisitor figure as a representative of the faction, the Grand Inquisitor is arguably the best choice because of the Pau’an species visual distinctiveness, the screen-accurate Rupert Friend likeness, and the modular lightsaber that gives the figure multiple display configurations.

Our Verdict

The Grand Inquisitor at #OWK 09 is a confidently designed figure that captures one of the Disney+ series’ most visually distinctive antagonists. The head sculpt is among the best of Phase 4. The modular lightsaber configuration matches the Inquisitor signature weapon design language. The soft-plastic shoulder bell trick supports the necessary combat poses. The articulation is the most flexible of the Mural Collection’s Inquisitor tier. The robe is well-engineered. The build quality is solid.

Buy this figure if you are completing the Mural Collection, if you build Inquisitor displays, if you collect Pau’an species figures (a small but specific collector niche), or if the Disney+ series’s expansion of the Grand Inquisitor character mattered to you. The $24.99 MSRP is fair for the engineering-and-likeness combination, and the figure has held its value steady on the secondary market.

The Pau’an head of the Inquisitorius. The character whose Star Wars Rebels animation arc gets retroactively extended by the Disney+ series. The figure with the screen-accurate Rupert Friend likeness and the modular spinning lightsaber. Buy him. Display him at the centre of the Inquisitor lineup. The Mural Collection’s villain leadership tier ends here, and the figure earns the position.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 Obi-Wan Kenobi Mural Collection. Related: Reva (Third Sister) P4-OWK-03 | Fifth Brother (Inquisitor) P4-OWK-04 | Purge Trooper (Phase II Armor) P4-OWK-07.