Poncho Zombie

Poncho Zombie is the 13th zombie that is found in the Wild West. It is first encountered is at Day 5. Once damaged enough, its poncho falls off, revealing either a grate that has the same amount of health as a Bucket or nothing to protect it at all.

Appearance
The Poncho Zombie wears a black hat with a combination of blue and green colored circles next to the flat part of the hat. It has hair although it is not that exposed as it is mostly covered with its hat, only revealing the side hair, a semi-circle shaped left eye, and a beard. It wears a poncho for mild protection against threats. Ponchos are normally designed to keep the person's body warm. Its poncho is slightly torn out on its edges, and it has an "x" mark just below the pendant the Poncho Zombie wears.

Deep inside its poncho, it wears a yellow collared shirt with green cross-lingins as its design. On its right and left sleeves, the shirt is torn up as the right one has the edge of the sleeve while the left one does not. It wears a black belt, a light-blue colored torn up pants, and a cowboy boots with a semi-light red color star logo on its sides.

In The Five Days of Feastivus, Poncho Zombie's attire has been redesigned, it now wears a bonet with brown circular fluffings and simultaeneous colors aligning and touching its forehead, now has a scarf that presents a violet and a darker version of it placed also in a simultaeneous manner, has a red color poncho that presents four white diamonds with two big ones that is adjacent to the wrist (to the right) and to the elbow (to the left side) and two small ones adjacent to the big diamonds respectively but the inner outfit and shoes remain the same, and finally, the metal grate that it wears for protection is encased in a red gift wrap with yellow ribbon that completely seals the metal grate.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS: Hardened SPEED: Basic

Sometimes has a hidden armored plate.

Special: randomly wears a protective metal grate

The grate is his most prized possession. The poncho is there just to protect it from getting rusty. Also, he's looking for his mechanical horse.

Without metal grate
The Poncho Zombie absorbs 12.5 normal damage shots, and its appearance changes upon an absorption of 2.5, when the poncho is destroyed, 7.5 normal damage shots when its arm falls off before dying at 12.5 normal damage shots.

With metal grate
The Poncho Zombie absorbs 67.5 normal damage shots and its appearance changes upon an absorption of 2.5 (when the poncho is destroyed), 21.5, 39.5 and 57.5 (when the metal grate is destroyed), and 62.5 normal damage shots when its arm falls off before dying at 67.5 normal damage shots.

Appearances
Player's House: Piñata Party

Wild West: Days 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16, 17, 19, 22, 25, and Big Bad Butte

Frostbite Caves: Piñata Party

With poncho
The Poncho Zombie is a very simple zombie at first, but there is a chance that a metal grate may appear. You can never tell whether or not it has a metal grate before destroying the poncho, so be prepared to take necessary action. Any instant-kill plants will destroy it, regardless of whether or not it has a metal grate.

Without metal grate
The Poncho Zombie without its grate is very simple, like all of the first zombies in other worlds (Ra Zombie, Swashbuckler Zombie, Basic Zombie). Defeat it as you would defeat them.

With metal grate
Treat it like you would a Buckethead Zombie whenever you see a Poncho Zombie with a metal grate on its body. A five-headed Pea Pod or a Winter Melon will take care of it easily. Any instant-kill plants will instantly destroy it in one hit (even if it is wearing its poncho). Iceberg Lettuces will also work if your defenses are weak. Another good plant to use is Spikerock, which will deal more damage with Plant Food. The Magnet-shroom is also recommended, because it can steal the grate once the poncho is removed. If there are too many Poncho Zombies, you can feed Plant Food on Magnet-shroom to remove almost all or most of the grates on screen once the ponchos are removed.

Trivia

 * Poncho Zombie's appearance is most likely a reference to Clint Eastwood.
 * Poncho Zombie walks similarly to Eustace Bagge, a character from Courage the Cowardly Dog.
 * Poncho Zombie's grate might be a reference to one of the Back to the Future films, where one of the protagonists protects himself with a grate that it wears under its poncho.
 * Poncho Zombie might be a reference to Schrödinger's Cat, an experiment where an animal can be consecutively considered alive and dead in a box until the box is opened, except the status of the animal is the presence of a metal grate under the poncho.
 * Poncho Zombie is the only zombie to have two different healths, 12.5 and 67.5, taking 2.5 normal damage shots more than a Basic Zombie or a Buckethead Zombie.
 * Before the 2.4 update, a metal-grated Poncho Zombie could survive a direct hit from a Coconut Cannon, but if a Poncho Zombie took a direct hit with its poncho still on, it will kill it whether it has a grate or not. This could suggest that the Poncho Zombie's health was always assumed as 12.5 before the poncho is knocked off. This could also happen if the Poncho Zombie is still intact and is hit by a Citron or a Magnifying Grass.
 * Poncho Zombie is one of the six zombies who received a new Christmas look for the 5 Days of Festivus, the others are Pianist Zombie, Camel Zombies, Gargantuar, Imp and Swashbuckler Zombie.
 * All Poncho Zombies (except the first one) in Wild West - Day 25 contain metal grates on their body.
 * This and Weasel Hoarder are the only zombies in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that have armor on their body.
 * When it loses its left arm, its bone is not shown like the other zombies.
 * This is the same with Chicken Wrangler Zombie.
 * Though when they die, the bone is visible.
 * Even though it's metal grate is on its chest, for some reason, the zombie can not be damaged directly with lobbed-shot plants, Spikeweed, Spikerock, Fume-shrooms, or Laser Beans.
 * Even if the Poncho Zombie has no metal grate, the poncho always makes a metal clanking noise.
 * In the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2, a Poncho Zombie wearing a metal grate can survive an instant kill.
 * The same also used to be possible in the international version.