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Brute Captain in VISR Mode

September 2, 2011 | By Errex More

The only other McFarlane Halo figure decorated with VISR markings is this Brute Captain released in Series 8. Similarly to the Rookie figure released with the Mongoose vehicle, this figure is basically a repaint of a previously released figure from wave 6, the Brute Bodyguard from the Halo 3: ODST collection.

The sculpture of both the Bodyguard and the Captain here is exactly the same although the Captain has a much darker color scheme. The armor is very detailed and has deep grooves and decorative etchings that remind me somewhat of antique Samurai armor.

The Brute Captain wears what appears to be a leather body suit under the plating with sculpted ports to attach the heavier armor pieces. The head sculpt is conformed by two pieces, with the lower jaw being glued in place after the paint to the interior of the mouth has been applied.

The VISR deco on this figure consists on bright red lines running near the edges of the armor plates. These lines attempt to simulate the way enemies look in the Halo 3:ODST game while the VISR visualization aid is activated by the player, and they glow in the dark after being exposed for a few minutes to fluorescent lighting. I was hoping these lines would glow in a reddish hue, but instead they glow in the usual sickly green color we are all familiar with.

The good thing about this figure is that the VISR deco is not as distracting as it is on the Rookie with the Mongoose, as they can be easily interpreted as simple rank markings.

The rest of the paint applications are rather subdued and consist mo0stly on shading washes applied over a base of reddish brown paint for the protective suit under the dark metallic gray armor plates, with only a few scattered accents here and there painted in a light blue color.

The figure itself is very articulated, boasting of over 26 moving parts on the package. The articulation spread for the Brute Captain is as follows:

• Barbell mounted neck.

• Pegged hinge shoulders.

• Upper biceps swivel.

• Hinged elbows.

• Upper forearm swivel.

• Pegged hinge wrists.

• Floating torso.

• Ball jointed hips.

• Double peg, hinged knees.

• Double peg, hinged ankles.

Of course, some of these joints have bits and pieces of armor getting in the way, like the torso and the wrists, but given the character design, the range is more than acceptable, in my opinion. The ankles are particularly well implemented this time, as it is much easier to adjust the angle of each foot than it is in figures that have the joint concealed by greaves.

The Brute Captain comes with a removable helm, a Brute Plasma rifle (recognizable for the fins protruding from the rear end of the weapon) and a Spike grenade. Each one of these accessories comes fully decorated and both the helmet and the plasma gun have glow-In-the-dark markings applied to them, but not so the Spike grenade, which resembles something between a mace and a WWII antique German grenade.

As a whole, the Brute Captain is a very imposing figure, and even not taking into account the glow-in-the dark gimmick, I’d say it makes for a very worthy addition to any Halo collection.