Shield Zombie

Shield Zombie is a zombie that appears in Far Future. It creates a non-damaging Force Field in front of itself, covering three lanes to protect itself and other nearby zombies from incoming attacks. However, an E.M.Peach can disable it and its Force Field and the Laser Bean's lasers, and the Fume-shroom's fumes can penetrate through the shield, while the Bloomerang's boomerangs can push through it as long as there are no other zombies in front of it. The Snapdragon's fire can hit the Shield Zombie directly if within range and it can also receive damage from splash damage dealt by Coconut Cannons, Melon-pults, and Winter Melons.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS:  Average

SPEED:  Basic

Protect himself and nearby zombies with a force field.

Special:  creates a shield to protect from incoming attacks

Shield Zombie developed his system using funds from a BiteStarter campaign. The push goal for pushing plants was not met.

Overview
Shield Zombie absorbs 25 normal damage shots while the Force Field absorbs 60 normal damage shots, and its appearance changes upon an absorption of 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, and 22 damage shots before dying at 25 normal damage shots.

Appearances
Player's House: Piñata Party

Far Future: Day 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, and Terror from Tomorrow

Strategies
A Laser Bean can penetrate the shield, so you can attack the Shield Zombie directly. If you plant a Magnifying Grass quickly enough, it can one hit kill the Shield Zombie. An E.M.Peach can disable the Shield Zombie, stopping the shield for ten seconds. A Lightning Reed's attack cannot bypass the shield on its own, but if the lightning bolt attacks another zombie, it can arc towards the Shield Zombie and cause damage, but also, there are times that it can bypass without the help of a zombie. A Bloomerang can also damage and bypass the shield. Finally, enough hits disable the shield, making a Citron viable as it deals large damage on its own. A Spikerock can attack it from below and bypass its shield, making it a good idea to use it in Terror from Tomorrow. Note that the shield can block the butter from a Kernel-pult. The shield will also stop when the zombie starts to eat a plant. Snapdragon also works, because it can ignore its shield, but because of its short range, it is better to protect it with a Wall-nut, Tall-nut or Infi-nut. Be careful if you use Citron's Plant Food ability as even though Shield Zombie has less health than the plasma ball itself, it is still a machine, thus wasting Plant Food, so use Plant Food on a Laser Bean instead.

On the other hand, you can also use the shield also to slow down groups of zombies on lanes where you do not have Winter Melons, allowing you to slow them down for a short period of time. This will allow you to slowly eliminate or cripple zombies once you have enough amount of sun to produce your defenses. The greater the concentration of Shield Zombies, the more you can get more time to slow zombie hordes down.

Trivia

 * In its almanac entry, BiteStarter is a parody of Kickstarter. Also, it states that the goal to push plants was not met, referring to the Mecha-Football Zombie.
 * Kickstarter is a business operationcompany established as of 2009 by Yancey Strickler, Charles Adler, and Perry Chen. It is stationed in United States whose goal is to bring life to millions of people's creative projects.
 * Instead of eating it with its face, it uses claws from the machine to eat the plants, similar to the Robo-Cone Zombie.
 * Its shield was originally going to be blue, and completely surround the zombie, but was later changed to purple and moved to only being in front of the zombie. The blue shield is only seen in one screenshot which was released by Electronic Arts the Tuesday prior to the world's release.
 * The tube that goes from the Shield Zombie's head into the top of its machine is probably what lets it live, this is noticeable because when it is stunned by the E.M.Peach, it starts to move in its seat and when the machine is defeated the zombie dies.
 * This is the only zombie that does not use a steering wheel to control the machine. Instead, it is a joystick.
 * The Shield Zombie, the Zombie Yeti, the Zombie Bull, and the Bug Bot Imp are the only machines in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time that cannot survive an instant kill.
 * If Shield Zombie's force field absorbs too much damage all at once, it will be deactivated for a few seconds, leaving it open to other attacks.
 * It and the Bug Bot Imp are the weakest zombies that operate a machine, with less health than Conehead Zombies, but unlike the Bug Bot Imp, the Shield Zombie will still block a Plant Food charged Citron.
 * Its toughness is actually Protected and its speed is actually Stiff while currently its toughness is Average and its speed is Basic.
 * Though it is made of metal, Magnet-shroom cannot pick it up.
 * This is most likely due to the weight of the Shield Zombies machine.
 * According to the game files, Shield Zombie's original name was Protector Zombie.
 * If Shield Zombie is deactivated by E.M.Peach, it will push the joysticks and try to get the machine to move.
 * This and Bug Bot Imp are the only machined zombies that can be devoured by Chomper.