Halloween Edition Inquisitor

It seemed 2024 passed by without any new additions to the Black Series "Holiday Edition" figures, but no: there was secretly an Amazon-exclusive Halloween two-pack that nobody ever heard about! And if it hadn't popped up in the "recommended products" section, you wouldn't be reading this review now. Celebrate the season with specially designed Star Wars figures from The Black Series. Yes, it's that same bio they use every time, but it's been a while since we've gotten any Holiday Edition figures, so it just seemed to make sense to include it this time. Is it possible they took that gap year so we'd be less likely to notice that these new figures aren't packaged like the older ones? Because remember, the first Halloween Edition figures came out when Hasbro was doing plastic-free packaging, so they had that cool thematic wrapping paper, but now all we get is a cardboard backdrop behind the tray. And we can't even copy the "real" figure's bio to fill up space here, because he didn't have one. The Halloween Edition Inquisitor is based on our old pal Pumpkin Head, though he's now been redesigned to look like a Dracula. Try not to notice that The Black Series was able to create a mashup that looks identifiably like Dracula using nothing but paint, when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles couldn't manage it even with an all-new sculpt! Would it have worked as well if the live-action Grand Inquisitor looked like the animated Grand Inquisitor, or would the whole idea have fallen apart? The Inquisitor's armor really does transition to vampirism very well. His clothes are now entirely black, rather than having grey for the cloth parts, and there's a large white panel painted on the front of his breastplate to suggest Drac's jacket being open to reveal his shirt. The inset line in the middle of the chest is still red, to break things up a little, and the flexible collar around his neck follows suit. His hands are whiter than his face, to show us he's wearing gloves. He was already wearing a black cape with a red lining, but now it's a brighter shade - actual red, rather than maroon. He still gets the weird marks on his forehead, which seem unnecessary, but the shadows under his eyes are painted better here than they used to be. Finally, the top of his head is painted black, to suggest Bela Lugosi's iconic hair. They even painted two little fangs and a trickle of blood on his lips! This mold's articulation hasn't changed since we reviewed it two years ago: balljointed head and neck, hinged pecs, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists, balljointed chest and hips, swivel thighs, and swivel/hinge knees and ankles. The armored pauldrons he wears are made from a very soft plastic, so they'll flex when you move the arms instead of remaining in the way. His cape is softgoods, so it won't impede anything, but if you're not a fan you can just slide it down the arms to get it off him. Rather than his silly spinny lightsaber, the Inquisitor gets the upper half of Paploo's spear, and Luthen Rael's swirling, tri-bladed knife and its sheath. If this were a review of Rael, we'd credit Hasbro for getting this detail right on a Season 1 figure when it wasn't shown to be anything other than a telescoping walking stick until Season 2, but this isn't so we won't. Neither of these accessories make any particular sense for Dracula, until you realize they're supposed to represent wooden stakes to kill him with. All the Black Series Holiday Edition figures come with a pack-in buddy. Because Count Inquisitracula is part of a two-pack, and there's ths a little more room than averagein the package, his weird friend is not as small as usual. Because he's a vampire, he gets a bat - or specifically, a mynock! The Grand Inquisitor may not have had a bio we could quote, but this mynock came with a 2018 SDCC exclusive, and that figure did have one: In the belly of the beast, Solo and crew discovered an inhospitable environment of noxious fumes and parasitic, swooping Mynocks - Bat-like creatures who ate through power cables and drained the energy from even the most impressive ships. The mynock is molded from translucent purple plastic, but its entire body is painted solid black, leaving just the wings looking thin and leathery. That's nice work, though the flat black does make appreciating the gross sculpt harder. Hasbro showed off three new Halloween Edition figures for 2025 at SDCC this year, and one of them (Target's) is already available in stores as I write this review. (That'd be August, since we're unlikely to post this for a few months more.) This is a great two-pack, and Amazon shouldn't have kept it a secret for so long. -- 10/04/25 Were there any other Holiday Editions we missed? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.