Punk Zombie


 * Not to be confused with Skunk Punk.

Punk Zombie is the fifth zombie encountered in Neon Mixtape Tour in Plants vs. Zombies 2 (the sixth in the Chinese version). He is the first zombie encountered that corresponds to a specific jam (the second in the Chinese version). If he encounters a plant during the punk jam, he will kick it back to the nearest empty tile to the left, or when no empty tiles are available, off the lawn, similarly to Mecha-Football Zombie. He can be killed instantly by Magnet-shroom, which attracts his head.

Description
Punk Zombie has a large thick pink mohawk with a blue streak filling in a quarter near the back. A large piercing is somehow attached to the top of the mohawk. His piercings are placed on one where his ear should be (left) and another on the right side of his forehead. He has one clipped through his nostrils, quite like a bull, and one more on the right side of his lower lip. Next to that is a silver ball on his chin.

He wears a plain red shirt covered by a black leather coat with what appears to be an imprint of a skull on the back. On his shoulder(s) is three spikes and under, on the rest of the sleeves are three bolts spread down evenly. He wears a black collar with the same bolts and resembles the collar of the Zombot from the first game. At the end of the coat is what appears to be a giant silver paperclip. The pants he wears are marone with an orange gridding.

His boots are black with the front portion metal with four large silver spikes at the tips. He also has a pair of fingerless motorbike gloves.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS: Solid

SPEED: Hungry

Moshes plants back a space when his jam is playing.

Weakness: Magnet Shrooms  pull off his head

Punk Zombie's piercings represent his individuality and his belief in personal freedom, or maybe just that he fell face-first into a sewing machine.

Overview
Punk Zombie absorbs 12 normal damage shots and his appearance changes upon absorbing 6 normal damage shots before dying at 12 normal damage shots.

Encounters
Neon Mixtape Tour: Days 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, Greatest Hits, "Rescue the Gold Bloom" Epic Quest - Step 2 and "Electrical Boogaloo" Epic Quest - Step 3

Modern Day: Days 9, 20, 25, 34 and "Electrical Boogaloo" Epic Quest - Step 1

Strategies
Like all other special-ability zombies in Neon Mixtape Tour, Punk Zombie is only a problem during his jam. Combining the increased speed of zombies and incoming Neon Bucketheads or Hair Metal Gargantuars protecting him, Punk Zombie can destroy defenses with ease.

An easy way to defeat him is to use Magnet-shroom to take his head and kill him instantly. This action requires a relatively small recharge time for Magnet-shroom compared to other metallic objects. However, when these zombies come in large hordes, multiple Magnet-shrooms or the usage of Plant Food may be needed. Plants such as Spikerock and Celery Stalker can help to defeat him as well, as he cannot push Spikerocks or Celery Stalker (when hiding).

Laser Bean and Fume-shroom are useful for killing multiple Punk Zombies, as well as MC Zom-Bs. It is not recommended to use Laser Bean and Fume-shroom when a Glitter Zombie is nearby though. Guacodile is useful against this zombie, given that it pushes Guacodile and it will start to rush and heavily damage all the zombies in the row. Primal Peashooters are also useful against this zombie. Due to their ability to push zombies backwards, they can keep a single Punk Zombie away from your other plants. However, be careful when Arcade Zombie's arcade machines are nearby, as the peas will hit the arcade machine, acting like a barrier.

Magnifying Grass is also a great way of effortlessly dealing with Punk Zombies as Punk Zombie has low health and his speed during his jam is increased more than other zombies, allowing Magnifying Grass to shoot him without having to shoot through other zombies. Additionally, Magnifying Grass can kill Punk Zombie with only one shot and its Plant Food ability can kill multiple Punk Zombies easily.

Infi-nut's force field is very useful to stop several Punk Zombies as they kick the force field instead of the actual plant behind it. However, this ability should not be used when the pop or rap jam is playing, due to Glitter Zombie or MC Zom-B's abilities, or when Hair Metal Gargantuars will weaken the force field.

Punk Zombies are surprisingly useful in levels such as Save Our Seeds. Kicking the endangered plant will move it back from harm from any other zombie. However, the player still needs to kill the Punk Zombie before he completely kicks the endangered plant out of the lawn.

Trivia

 * If the Punk Jam is playing, he will not eat any plants. This includes Infi-nut's force field. Instead of eating it, he will kick it.
 * When his head is attracted by a Magnet-shroom, the player will earn the Head Banger achievement.
 * His head is absorbed by Magnet-shroom in much less time than other metallic objects.
 * His head, unlike other metallic objects, goes around the Magnet-shroom and disappears instead of getting attracted to the center of the plant and shrinking until it disappears.
 * It could be because the head is not fully metallic unlike buckets or other metallic items to shrink.
 * However, in the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2, his head shrinks and gets attracted to the center of Magnet-shroom.
 * His head cannot be shot to zombies with Magnet-shroom's Plant Food ability.
 * The spiked collar Punk Zombie wears bears a resemblance to the collar on Nintendo's character, Bowser.
 * This is the second zombie whose head can be pulled by Magnet-shroom, with the first being the Treasure Yeti.
 * Punk Zombie and the Treasure Yeti are the only zombies that can be killed while being protected by Glitter Zombie's rainbow (Magnet-shroom takes away its head).
 * He cannot push low plants, such as Spikeweed, and underground plants.
 * While kicking, he does not eat hypnotized zombies.
 * He, along with MC Zom-B, are the only zombies that have two attacks, other than the Zombots and Gargantuars.
 * While being brought back to the last column by Thyme Warp, Magnet-shroom can still take away Punk Zombie's head. This will result in a headless Punk Zombie with full health (due to Thyme Warp's healing) which acts like a normal Punk Zombie, but immune to Magnet-shrooms.
 * His Almanac entry could possibly explain how he died.
 * His Almanac entry references the Punk subculture's belief in individual freedom.
 * If one looks closely, the skull on his coat appears to have eyes shut, a sign of death.
 * When moshing plants, the foot that is in kicking motion grows briefly and slightly—quite like Yoshi when he kicks in the Super Smash Bros. games.
 * He groans when he dies, similar to what Gargantuar does in the original game.
 * The only time he can eat a plant while the punk jam is playing, is when he encounters a Grave Buster. He will not push the Grave Buster for it cannot be on a blank tile or on another Tombstone.
 * This can only occur in Modern Day - Day 9, as it is the only level with both Punk Zombies and Tombstones.
 * In Modern Day, he appears to dance slower. This is because the punk jam doubles the zombies' speeds, and in Modern Day, zombies do not need their jams to use their abilities.
 * He, Impunk, and Skunk Punk are the only zombies with mohawks.
 * They also all have the word "punk" in their name.
 * He is voiced by Patrick Gunn according to the credits.
 * Despite the fact that he normally activates his ability in Modern Day, he can not do this in Electrical Boogaloo's first quest which is set in Modern Day.