A YouTuber Built an Armed 'Halo' Warthog Out of a Cybertruck

The age of the Cybertruck technical is upon us, and it is weird as hell.

Less than two weeks after Chechan warlord Ramzan Kadyrov debuted a Cybertruck armed with what appeared to be a Russian-made Kord 12.7 mm heavy machine gun, popular firearms YouTuber (and erstwhile Texas congressional hopeful) Brandon Herrera debuted his own take on the unusual vehicle, one that fans of the beloved "Halo" video-game franchise will almost immediately recognize.

That's right: It's the United Nations Space Command's M12 Force Application Vehicle, lovingly known as the Warthog, and it even comes with its own gun turret outfitted with a machine gun just like its video-game counterpart -- sort of!

"We could have got more detailed on the wrap for the Warthog, but I think that the outline, the overall shape of the Cybertruck, really just gives me those 'Halo 1' [sic] Warthog vibes, just the low poly look of it," Herrera says in the 12-minute video.

Now, there are some obvious differences between the UNSC Warthog and Herrera's Cybertruck, apart from the fact that the former is completely fictional. The Warthog runs on a 12-liter "liquid-cooled hydrogen-injected ICE," which, as many Halo fans have observed, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, while the Cybertruck runs on a lithium-ion battery that will burst into flames when exposed to water. The Warthog's armor is made of "ballistic polycarbonate and carbon nanotubes built upon a titanium frame," which are apparently strong enough to deflect all manner of small arms fire; the Cybertruck can purportedly stop a .45 ACP round, although third-party armor upgrade packages do exist, for some reason. The Warthog has a top speed of 78 mph; the Cybertruck has a top speed of 112 mph, and it will reach it whether you want it to or not. Really, the only obvious similarity between the Warthog and this Cybertruck is the paint job.

Well, that and the vehicle-mounted weapon in the truck bed, which Herrera definitely gets credit for. While the Warthog comes armed with an M41 "Vulcan" Light Anti-Aircraft Gun, which is capable of loosing off 500 12.7×99 mm armor-piercing rounds per minute, this Cybertruck comes outfitted with a beloved M2 "Ma Deuce" .50-caliber machine gun, which can fire off between 450--575 rounds per minute.

"OD green does not a Warthog make," Herrera says in the video. "Of course, we had to add the turret."

We appreciate Herrera's efforts to make our "Halo"-inspired dreams of futuristic maneuver warfare a reality. Unfortunately, it's often difficult to separate art from artist: Herrera is the same YouTuber who, during his attempt to defeat incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales in the Republican primary for Texas's 23rd congressional district earlier this year, sparked a major backlash after joking about veteran suicide during an interview on the "Unsubscribe" podcast.

"If it makes everyone in the room feel better, I often think about putting a gun in my mouth. So, I'm basically an honorary veteran," Herrera said during the February interview, per the San Antonio Current. "Every person I ever told that to, every veteran I've ever told that joke to, laughed their ass off."

(Gonzales, a Navy veteran, narrowly defeated Herrera at the ballot box during the primary runoff a month later.)

It's clear that, when it comes to technicals, the Cybertruck probably won't replace the ubiquitous Toyota Hilux as the improvised combat vehicle of choice for irregular forces across the world anytime soon; if anything, they'll remain novelties intended to confound the internet. But I can't help but wonder: Between Kadyrov and Herrera, why do all the worst people build all the cool things?

In the meantime, congrats to Herrera: Your attempts to LARP as an operator have officially yielded at least one cool thing.

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