Over the weekend I took a look at the newly-released Halo Minimates Series 4 Toys R Us exclusive Arbiter (Ripa ‘Moramee) and Prophet of Mercy two-pack, and today I’ve got the other Covenant set from Series 4 Halo: the all-new Brute War Chieftain and Elite Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum from Halo 3. A portion of readers are probably scratching their head right now and wondering just who the hell “Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum” is, but ‘Vadum is actually quite well-known (just not by name). Rtas ‘Vadum is the Elite wearing white armor and missing his mandibles on the left side of his head, who leads the Elite rebellion against the Brutes in Halo 2 and Halo 3. That makes ‘Vadum unquestionably the most important Sangheili other than the Arbiters, and a natural pairing with the Brute War Chieftain. Featuring two high-ranking Covenant characters, this two-pack had the potential to be really fantastic, but it unfortunately falls a little short…

The Right:

Aesthetically-speaking, the Brute War Chieftain is a real beauty of a figure (and by that I mean he’s as hideous and intimidating as you’d imagine he would be). The Brute War Chieftain isn’t your typical Minimates figure–he’s almost totally covered with bulky add-on pieces that make him look like the mammoth adversary he should be. I especially appreciate the elephant-like feet attachments that really drive home that this is a Halo Brute and not just some Battle Beast lookalike.

The first Halo Mega Bloks Brute Chieftain figure is just being released at time of writing, so I don’t have one to compare the Minimates Brute War Chieftain figure to. What I do have for comparison in the generic Halo Mega Bloks Brute, which has been released dozens upon dozens of times in the line. Between those two figures, the Minimates Brute War Chieftain is like a modern masterpiece, while the Mega Bloks Brute looks like an under-detailed anachronism. From a visual and sculpting perspective, the Halo Minimates Brute War Chieftain is simply a far superior product.

The Brute War Chieftain comes with a removable helmet, as well as two of the most fear-inducing weapons you can encounter in Halo 3: the dreaded Gravity Hammer and Fuel Rod Gun. The sculpt of the helmet is terrific, and all of its trademark angles and spikes are present. Though he’s bald without his helmet, the extensive amount of lines on his face makes the Brute War Chieftain terrifying even bald. Both weapons are nicely-detailed and look super. The Gravity Hammer is molded in black, with brown paint deco on the handle and grey on the bladed side of it, while the Fuel Rod Gun is molded in gold with black and neon green highlights on it.

One of the most genius design choices made by Diamond Select Toys when engineering their Halo Minimates line is the manner in which they simulate the curved musculature of the Sangheili (Elite) legs. Rather than giving the Elites the same legs as pretty much every Minimate ever, Diamond Select designed it such that the Elites’ legs bend backward and then have a large lower-leg/foot attachment piece that pegs into the regular Minimate leg. This is is just so unbelievably brilliant and creative that it boggles my mind. Love, love, love the ingenuity of Diamond Select Toys here.

Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum is portrayed in his characteristic silvery-white armor and looks suitably hi-tech and futuristic. He’s really one of the most stylin’ Elites around.

The Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum figure comes with the same energy sword as the Halo Wars Arbiter figure did. As such, the energy sword is the same great-looking transparent purple with painted silver handle as it was with that Halo Minimates figure. ‘Vadum holds the energy sword just as tightly as the Arbiter, and I’m pleased that Diamond Select Toys have us the most logical and suitable weapon for ‘Vadum.

Halo Minimates Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum has only 12 points of articulation, as he lacks the typical Minimates feet joints. ‘Vadum features a ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, hinge elbows, swivel forearms, swivel waist, ball-jointed hips, and hinge knees. The Brute War Chieftain has only 11 points, as his armor prohibits the swivel waist joint from working.

The Wrong:

Much as I had a plethora of issues with the Ripa ‘Moramee Arbiter figure in Halo Minimates Series 4, I have a multitude of issues with both the Brute War Chieftain and Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum figures.

The most obvious issue with this Halo Minimates two-pack is that the scale of these Halo toys are all over-the-place. The nature of Minimates is that the figures will be far from realistically-sized, but the figures within this set aren’t even consistent within the series. I excused the Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee figure for being undersized in my Ripa ‘Moramee Arbiter/Prophet of Mercy review, despite the fact that Ripa ‘Moramee is one of the largest known Elites in the Halo universe. But it’s tough to ignore the inconsistency of the scale when Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum absolutely towers over not only Ripa ‘Moramee, but the Brute War Chieftain as well. You don’t get very far or live very long as a Brute being undersized, so a shrimpy Brute War Chieftain figure looks plain wrong next to a gigantic Elite.

Life gets worse for the Brute when you go to pose him and realize that his gorgeous-looking armor has a side-effect: it heavily limits his upper-boy articulation. Try as he might, the Brute War Chieftain figure simply cannot raise his arms above his chest. Given that it’s sort of important in the Halo universe to be able to raise your arms up and down to properly use the Gravity Hammer, and the Brute War Chieftain is having a very bad day. The problem is further complicated by the inability of the Brute War Chieftain’s hands to tightly grip the Gravity Hammer or Fuel Rod Gun anyway. What it comes down to is that the Brute Chieftain is superb for standing around looking impressive, but really not much else at all.

Unfortunately, I’m not done with Rtas ‘Vadum yet either. Unlike the Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee figure, the Rtas Vadum Minimate doesn’t have a removable helmet. That ordinarily wouldn’t be a crippling problem, but in this case the helmet on the ‘Vadum figure just looks bizarre and doesn’t appear to be positioned properly. I think the actual problem is that ‘Vadum’s mandibles on his right side are enormous and cover his eye and most of that side of his face, while the left side of that face doesn’t have that problem since ‘Vadum lost his mandibles on that side. The mandibles he does have are way out of scale (like the rest of the figure), and having them so high up on the Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum figure’s face is a totally inappropriate appearance.

Overall: In theory this is a pretty two-pack of Halo figures. You’re getting an all-new Brute War Chieftain and one of the three most famous Elites (after the two Arbiters). Unfortunately, the execution of the set leads to a variety of issues that hinder my enjoyment of this Halo Minimates set and which it’s impossible for me to get past. The Brute War Chieftain figure looks absolutely magnificent, but the armor restricts his articulation so much that the mighty Brute is rendered impotent. He can barely hold his weapons to begin with, and the articulation restrictions make posing him looking dynamic with the Fuel Rod Gun or Gravity Hammer impossible. Meanwhile,the Shipmaster Rtas ‘Vadum figure is vastly too large and well out-of-scale, has his non-removable helmet awkwardly placed on his head, and just does not feel like a Minimate anymore. I like Diamond Select Toys quite a bit and I really do want to adore this figures, but for me these particular figures are a miss.