Planetary Gladiator

Planetary Gladiator is a in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, and a member of the  class. He costs 1 to play, and has 1/3. He has the Armored 1 trait, and his ability redirects all damage that is supposed to go to the zombie hero to it. This ability persists until all Planetary Gladiators are removed from the field. His plant counterpart is Soul Patch.

Origins
His description makes a reference to the debate made on whether Pluto should be classified as a planet or not.

Statistics

 * Class: Hearty
 * Tribe: Sports Zombie
 * Traits: Armored 1
 * Ability: If your Hero would get hurt, this gets hurt instead.
 * Set - Rarity: Galactic - Super-Rare

Card description
He's still not sure if he should defend Pluto or not.

Update 1.16.10

 * Added to the game.

With
Planetary Gladiator is an excellent zombie to have early in the game, especially for his great value for 1 brain. You can play him on the first turn, and you are almost always guaranteed to live through the turn unscathed. Even a small health boost allows him to absorb all the damage from Power Pummel at 3 ground lanes. While not as efficient as he is early-game, he still has value late-game, as he is cheap and can absorb a hit before being destroyed. If you are lucky and are playing as Rustbolt or Z-Mech, you will be able to play Rock Wall on the following turn, increasing his health even further and causing a larger nuisance to your opponent.

Additionally, he is a sports zombie, so the player can boost him with Team Mascot so that he lasts longer, and protect him with Zombie Coach so that neither he nor you can take damage. Escape through Time is another card that works well with him, being able to shield him like Zombie Coach can. Zombot Battlecruiser 5000 is also another option.

Against
If your opponent plays this on the first turn, it will take you a bit to get rid of him due to his 3 health and Armored 1 trait. You are not going to be able to destroy him unless you use a superpower that allows you to take him out. In fact, the only superpowers that can destroy him on turn 1 are Power Pummel, Precision Blast, Devour, and Tater Toss. Fortunately, he only has 1 strength, so he will not bother you much offensively, and can also be easily destroyed by, , and , although it may be better to save them for more dangerous zombies. Also, your opponent can play a strength-boosting card to put you in a dilemma if they are The Smash or Z-Mech, or use Team Mascot frequently. In such a case, Bounce him to make him unable to protect your opponent and remove the boost.

You can also make him weaker using Water Balloons or Weed Whack which reduces his health, rendering him vulnerable to less damaging attacks.

If your opponent plays this on the first turn, avoid playing More Spore as it will be completely useless due to the Armored 1 trait. However, playing it can still be a good idea if you are planning on using Buff-Shroom the next turn to increase the Button Mushrooms' stats.

Trivia

 * Similar to Soul Patch, if there are multiple Planetary Gladiators on the field, the leftmost Planetary Gladiator will activate his ability.