Brute Chieftain
Right on the heels of their first Brute release in the Halo: Reach line, McFarlane Toys went and produced a Brute Chieftain as part of the fifth series of action figures.
Let me start with the obvious: This is one beast of a figure. Brutes are usually massive, but this guy is even more bulky and heavy than any other figure I have in this scale.
The Chieftain is almost too big to be packaged in a blister card, as his weight alone will tear off the plastic blister from the backing card after a relatively short time. Not that this is a figure that would stay on the pegs for long, anyways.
The body sculpture is based on the Brute Minor mold from Series 4, but it is so heavily modified that the Chieftain doesn’t share a lot of pieces with the lower ranking Brute, a fact evidenced by the extra details sculpted on the limbs and torso that are clearly visible even under the added armor pieces.
As befitting his rank, the Chieftain is heavily armored and the protective gear is decorated in geometric designs that remind me of klingons. Most of the heavier armor plates are glued over ports on the figure, but the torso was sculpted as some sort of protective undersuit.
The Brute Chieftain’s helmet is removable, showing off a malicious, ape-like countenance underneath and something of a goatee can be seen jutting from his chin even with the helmet on.
As massive and bulky as this Chieftain is, he still has a very impressive articulation spread consisting of:
• Hinged jaw
• Barbell jointed neck.
• Pegged hinge shoulders.
• Lower biceps swivel.
• Pegged hinge elbows.
• Barbell jointed wrists.
• Barbell mounted torso.
• Barbell jointed hips.
• Pegged hinge knees.
• Barbell mounted ankles.
With the extra bulk added from some of the armor pieces, a few of the joints get a slightly limited range of movement but overall, the Brute Chieftain still manages to be at least as versatile as the Minor.
The figure is painted in brownish grays and has dark shading washes applied to bring out the sculpted fur textures. The armored bits are painted in dark silver paint, with a few details picked out in bronze and maroon. There is a weathering effect applied to the armor bits that enhance the battered, battle-worn look of the gear.
The Brute Chieftain comes armed with a newly sculpted Gravity Hammer and normally, with a plasma grenade. However, mine came with two plasma grenades, as one was stuck behind the helmet. The Gravity Hammer comes with a weapon peg at one side, but again, the brute Chieftain has no peg hole to use it, so both grenades and peg are going to other figures in my shelf.
The new Gravity Hammer is painted in dark silver and it doesn’t come apart to fit into the Chieftain’s hands. It has a bright silver blade on the back of the hammerhead, and a red sigil painted on a side. The weapon is very heavy but can be held very securely by the Chieftain using both hands.
So, in a nutshell, if I had to choose only one figure from this Series 5 to buy, even paying the full MSRP, I’d certainly go for the Brute Chieftain.
Errex Score: 98/100
Category: Featured, HALO, Toy Reviews, Video Games
You can actually attach the hammer to his back, there is a hole on his…. bum lol.