A starred angle (or XL shape) is a built-up shape composed of two angles joined intermittently by welded plates (stitch plates) at the heels, forming a cross-shaped section. Starred angles have several advantages: they are simple to fabricate, easy to install on the frame, and their configuration makes clean up and maintenance less complicated. However, a number of these braces failed during the 2010 Maule earthquake in Chile. Failures observed included local buckling, lateral torsional buckling, and connection fractures. These failures, although not yet completely explained, have made engineers steer away from the use of starred angles as braces. Finite element models of different brace configurations were built considering initial imperfections, nonlinear material behavior and large deformations. Gusset plates and stitch plates were also modeled and contact conditions established between these elements and the angles. The models were subjected to cycles of increasing displacement amplitude. Results for axial load capacity, hysteresis loops, failure mode, and forces between the gusset plates, stitch plates and angles were extracted from the analysis. The results indicate that the global buckling failure mode (flexural, torsional, and flexural torsional) developed by the brace depends on the ratio between the cross section slenderness and the global slenderness and the spacing of the stitch plates. In addition, forces larger than the normally used to design these connections develop for some cases in the connection between stitch plates, gusset plates and angles, which could explain the failures observed after the earthquake. Six scaled specimens with the same cross section but different lengths were tested under cyclic loading of increasing amplitude. The failure modes varied depending on the slenderness of the specimen from flexural to flexural-torsional buckling. After several cycles of inelastic displacement, the specimens only exhibited fracture in one of the angle legs, maintaining significant tensile strength, but low residual compressive strength. No failure on the connections or the stitch plates was observed.