Gargantuar Prime


 * For the other variants of Gargantuar, see Gargantuar.

Gargantuar Prime is a mechanized variant of Gargantuar that appears in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. Despite the fact that it has the same health as the other variations of Gargantuar, it also has the ability to shoot lasers that tend to incinerate a plant or a zombie. Since it is a machine, it can also be temporarily shut down by the E.M.Peach. Another disadvantage is that it is slower than the other variations of the Gargantuar, making it harder for it to get to plants in order to crush them. It also smashes a Spikerock twice.

Almanac Entry
TOUGHNESS: Great

SPEED: Stiff

Has it all: heavy armor, laser eyes, smashing arms, and Bug Bot deployment system.

Damage: crushes plants with arms

Damage: randomly burns tiles with laser eyes

Special: launches Bug Bot when damaged

The imp pilots of the Gargantuar Prime series are handpicked by Dr. Zomboss himself. They are the imp elite. The small, the mean, and the fearless! But mostly the ones who drive a stick shift.

Overview
The Gargantuar Prime absorbs 180 normal damage shots, and it does not degrade. It launches its Bug Bot Imp at 91 normal damage shots.

Appearances
Player's House: Piñata Party

Far Future: Day 8, 12, 19, 22, 25, and Terror from Tomorrow

General
Gargantuar Primes are harder to kill than the others. One can already be threatening, but 10 or more of these can destroy all the plants in your lawn. If paired with at least 10 Mecha-Football Zombies, it can cause lots of havoc on your lawn, emptying everything. When it launches its Bug Bot Imp, quickly use a Blover to blow it away, since Bug Bot Imps are harder to destroy than a normal Imp.

Unlike other Gargantuars, this variation will use a laser to kill plants in the back or in other lanes in one hit. Therefore, avoid placing Winter Melons, those are the targets of Gargantuar Primes and might burn them to a crisp with its laser eyes, wasting 500 sun in the process.

Use an E.M.Peach to disable it once it sets foot on your lawn. To delay it further, put an Iceberg Lettuce in front of it, as long as there are no other zombies to protect it. A Boosted Iceberg Lettuce or its Plant Food Upgrade makes it more effective, as it can freeze all Gargantuar Primes on-screen. Use it only when they are about to fire their lasers. Followed by that, use again E.M.Peach to immobilize it any further. This can help you defeat Gargantuar Primes with ease before they could use their last resort.

Citrons with Plant Food will instantly kill a Gargantuar Prime if there are no machines in front to block it. Avoid using Jalapenos and use Cherry Bombs while they are disabled under Iceberg Lettuce or the delay will be undone.

Gargantuar Primes are actually threats from afar, as they are too slow to get far in a well-defended lawn, despite their bulk. They still can crush plants, therefore, do not put your defenses too up front. Do not try stalling them with Spikerocks, as they can kill them far faster than other Gargantuars (due to not stopping to smash until the plant is dead) despite the slower animation. Besides the lasers, the Bug Bot Imps are also notable threats. They will still land at the third column, but they get to move a longer distance. The best way to deal with them is Magnifying Grass, as it is the cheapest to plant option and can destroy them as long as there are no machines in the way.

Terror from Tomorrow
You must be able to defeat Gargantuar Primes consistently, regardless of their numbers. The most effective way is the smart use of Power Tiles. In the beginning, plant Twin Sunflowers on Power Tiles of the same color (mininum of three in almost all games) and use a Plant Food on one of them. This allows you to gain much needed sun in the beginning to establish key defenses like Winter Melons, which will slow them down. Once they start showing up, replace a Twin Sunflower on one Power Tile with an Iceberg Lettuce and another with a Winter Welon. This way, when you power up each time, you get some sun, you freeze everyone, and you get a deadly Winter Melon power-up all at once. For this strategy to work though, you need a lot of Plant Food so you will need a Power Lily and usually an Imitater as well. The quickest and easiest way to get rid of all Gargantuar Primes (and other zombies) on your lawn is to use Spring Bean along with Blover. You also need a lot of Plant Food to feed Spring Bean, hence making everyone spring into the air. Once every zombie and Gargantuar Prime are airborne, quickly place a Blover so that everybody gets blown away.

Trivia

 * This is the first Gargantuar to have two special attacks. One is to incinerate a plant, while the other one is to smash a plant twice. It is also the first Gargantuar to have weaknesses, one of which is that it is slower than other Gargantuars, and it can also be disabled by E.M.Peaches.
 * It is the first Gargantuar to smash plants more than once. This is because it wishes to ensure that plants like Wall-nuts, Tall-nuts, and Infi-nuts, cannot survive another hit. This only works with Plant Food though.
 * However, Spikerocks can survive another hit. This is because it takes three smashes before dying.
 * Its name is a parody of Optimus Prime, the main protagonist of Transformers series.
 * This is the first Gargantuar to have two Imps. One being the pilot of the mech and the other one deployed on last resort purpose which is the Bug Bot Imp.
 * This is the only Gargantuar that is a robot while in the World map, a statue is seen as a normal one.
 * The Gargantuar Prime is the only Gargantuar to have "Stiff" speed, while all the other Gargantuars have "Hungry" speed, meaning this one is the slowest out of all the other variants.
 * The arms of a Gargantuar Prime resemble the telephone pole the Gargantuar carried in the original game.
 * While there was only one telephone pole carried in the original game, the design was implemented to both arms of the Gargantuar Prime. That means it could crush each plant twice.
 * This and the Mummified Gargantuar are the only Gargantuars to smash plants with both hands. The Mummified Gargantuar uses both hands to smash with the sarcophagus while the Gargantuar Prime smashes twice.
 * This and Dark Ages Gargantuar are the only Gargantuars to appear in levels other than Day 8, Day 25, Night 10 of Dark Ages and Endless Zones. This is because Far Future days were not pre-made before the 1.7 update.
 * Its laser eyes can burn other zombies that touch it. Due to this, this is the first Gargantuar and the second zombie that can kill a fellow zombie, the first being Dr. Zomboss, as he can kill other zombies through his charge attack implemented into his Zombots.
 * Despite that the Gargantuar Prime's almanac entry says that its laser eyes burn tiles, it actually only burns plants.
 * The Gargantuar Prime's lasers do not always instantly kill plants, despite saying that it incinerates them.
 * The Gargantuar Prime looks similar to the Zombot, another robot based on the Gargantuar.
 * When it shoots its lasers, its eyes turn blueish-purple. Right when its finished shooting, it shortly becomes light blue then becomes yellow. The eye lights turn off when it is disabled by E.M.Peach.
 * When incinerating a plant, the plant burns up just as it would if it was burned by an Explorer Zombie.
 * If you look closely, it is missing a tooth. It is located on the lower part of the mouth, just like a normal Gargantuar.
 * The only plants that cannot be burned by its laser are Iceberg Lettuce, Cherry Bomb, Blover, E.M.Peach, Jalapeno and Power Lily.
 * Like the regular Gargantuar, the plant that can withstand Gargantuar Prime the longest is Spikerock.
 * Gargantuar Prime is a Gargantuar variant but it is run by an Imp.
 * It has the shortest death animation of all Gargantuars.
 * It's also the only "fake" Gargantuar, because it is just a robot manuevered by an Imp.
 * The Gargantuar Prime can be defeated in one hit with the Citron's Plant Food ability, just like other Gargantuars.
 * It's the only Gargantuar not to groan as it is a robot. But since it is a robot, it does make robotic and mechanical noises.
 * In Chinese version, last few levels in Far Future have Level 3 Gargantuar Prime, and it's health is 180x3=540, it took 6 Level instant kill plant to kill it.