Energy Armor on Brutes always feels like it has a bit of a glass jaw. It feels fine on Brute, until it's suddenly very not. Scrappers and Stalkers just wear it better.
Out of the 100 or so toons I've run up to 50, the only one I've ever actually deleted (instead of stripped and shelved) was a SS/Regen Brute. Let's just say it wasn't Super Strength that raised my ire...
To summarize: Happy place, happy place, happy place, DEAD.