Mecha-Football Zombie


 * For other uses, see Football Zombie (disambiguation).

Mecha-Football Zombie is a mechanized walker maneuvered by a Future Zombie that appears in Far Future in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It packs a large amount of health and it can push the player's plants back one tile, and eventually out of his or her lawn. Just like the other machines, it is vulnerable to E.M.Peach which disables it for ten seconds. Once it is near a plant, it will push it one tile to the left. If there are more plants behind it, they will all move one square to the left as well, with the plant on the last tile of (if there is one) being thrown away from the lawn.

Description
The Mecha-Football Zombie is a bipedal walker with an extremely high amount of health, enough to withstand an instant kill plant. It is piloted by a Future Zombie. The zombie inside uses a steering wheel to control it and pushes a button to push plants away.

The walker is designed to resemble a football helmet as a reference to the Football Zombie from the first game. It has a design of a bone in a cross-like pattern on the top and below the design is a glass window from where the driver can look at the outside. On its side there is a skull insignia with a blue eye and a green eye.

On the front it has a facemask with three spikes and grass sticking out of it that's used to push plants to the side.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS: Machined

SPEED: Basic

Pushes plants across the lawn.

Special: pushes plants left instead of eating

Now past his prime, Mecha-Football Zombie is ready to be put back into the game. Until he gets some brains, concussions aren't a concern.

PvP Mode
Mecha-Football Zombie

TOUGHNESS: Machined

SPEED: Basic

Troop Capacity: 14

Training Cost: 900

Training Time: 48 minutes 20 hours

Mecha-Football Zombie's brain is getting more and more into sports to the point that he already thought that the plants were footballs waiting to be kicked into the goalpost.

Pleague Pharmacy effect: Throws 3 footballs, hitting 3 random plants.

Overview
The Mecha-Football Zombie absorbs 100 normal damage shots. Its appearance changes upon absorbing 16, 30, 43, 56, 73, and 87 shots before dying at 100 normal damage shots.

Encounters
Player's House: Piñata Party

Far Future: Days 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, Terror from Tomorrow, and Piñata Party

Frostbite Caves: "Electrical Boogaloo" Epic Quest - Steps 2 and 6

Lost City: "Rescue the Gold Bloom" Epic Quest - Step 8

Modern Day: Days 1, 10, 11, and 33

Strategies
Because it pushes plants across or out of the lawn, you should try to stun it with the E.M.Peach or Iceberg Lettuce or destroy it with an instant-kill before it reaches your plants. Because of this, most defensive plants are useless against it, and Pea-nuts can only attack it, so be sure to put plants near the back of the lawn unless there are Gargantuar Primes on the lawn. This also leaves it invulnerable to Sun Beans, Chili Beans, Hypno-shrooms, and Garlics. If you are going to use the Bonk Choy, do not put any plants in front of it (a Wall-nut, for example). When the Mecha-Football Zombie pushes the Wall-nut, it will never get close enough to the Bonk Choy, thus rendering it useless.

Chard Guards, on the other hand, are excellent in dealing with it. They are able to shove it back before it pushes them (and any other plants behind them), making them a sturdy defensive strategy when dealing with it. Spring Bean is useful too if you need to use less sun or have yet to unlock Chard Guard. Use Spikeweed or Spikerock (which it cannot push) in conjunction with Chard Guard and other slowing plants to damage the Mecha-Football Zombie and keep it at bay until it breaks down.

These and Gargantuar Primes are considered to be dangerous in Terror from Tomorrow because they can instantly destroy most of your plants. You will need Cherry Bombs, Jalapenos, Grapeshots, E.M.Peaches (possibly along with its Imitater version), Winter Melons, and Melon-pults.

Primal Potato Mines can easily take down groups of Mecha-Football Zombies, this being possible because Primal Potato Mines do 120 damage while the zombie can absorb only 100 damage.

Trivia

 * Mecha-Football Zombies will push plants over tombstones, similarly to how Fisherman Zombie pulls plants over surfboards and how Punk Zombie pushes plants over other plants. The plant will fly over the tombstones and land in the next available space.
 * Currently, this is only evident in Piñata Party, because tombstones cannot appear in Far Future.
 * It can push the Infi-nut's force field, destroying it instantly and pushing the Infi-nut to the left if it is on a row where Infi-nut is. Otherwise, it will just push the force field.
 * Disco-tron 3000 and Mecha-Football Zombie are the only machines that absorb 100 normal damage shots before dying.
 * It will walk over an unarmed Potato Mine and Primal Potato Mine without pushing it.
 * Despite the fact that a Football Zombie had more health than a Conehead Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies, Robo-Cone Zombie has more health than the Mecha-Football Zombie.
 * This might be because Mecha-Football Zombie's main purpose is to push plants to the side, being a threat to the players defenses, while Robo-Cone Zombie's main purpose is to absorb a lot of damage, protecting other zombies behind it.
 * It cannot push a plant that is using its Plant Food ability.
 * However, this is not the case in the Chinese version.
 * Mecha-Football Zombie pushes plants to the left, while Fisherman Zombie, Qigong Zombie, and QiGong Bronze pull plants to the right. Excavator Zombie uses his shovel to pull plants to the right, but unlike Mecha-Football Zombie, when the plant reaches the furthest three columns from the player's house, the plant will not be flicked off the screen. It will just stay there and 'wait' to be eaten.
 * Mecha-Football Zombie, Punk Zombie and Blade-Wielding Hero are the only zombies that can push plants. In the case of Blade-Wielding Hero, it will push plants, flinging off two plants with its sword strike ability.
 * It can push White Radish in the Chinese version.
 * It pushes any endangered plant along with its "danger tile". If it pushes an endangered plant off the lawn, the screen will still show "The zombies ate your plant!", despite the fact that Mecha-Football Zombie does not eat the endangered plant, but rather flings it off the lawn.
 * If the player looks closely, patches of dirt and grass can be seen between the Mecha-Football Zombie's spike plates, much like how Football Zombie had patches of dirt stuck in the mouth guard of its helmet in most promotional material for Plants vs. Zombies.
 * It is currently unknown if it can push the sheep transformed by Wizard Zombie since it and Wizard Zombie have not been in the same Piñata Party yet.
 * If it pushes a plant with a Guacodile behind it, it will activate the Guacodile, similar to how Fisherman Zombie will activate the Guacodile if it tries to pull the plant.
 * Blover and Hurrikale can be used to stall it, as it cannot be pushed (or pulled, for that matter). Simply plant it behind the plant the Mecha-Football Zombie is trying to push, and until the Blover vanishes, it cannot push any plants on its row.
 * It shares the same feet as Harvester Zombie.
 * Mecha-Football Zombie, Gargantuar Prime, Zombie King, Surfer Zombie, Fisherman Zombie, Troglobite, Imp Porter, Arcade Zombie, and Hair Metal Gargantuar are the only zombies that are able to kill Ghost Pepper.
 * In the Chinese version, its Almanac entry does not translate the word "Special" into Chinese.
 * Since version 1.7.5 in the Chinese version, he got a new attack in PvP Mode. When using Plague Pharmacy, he pulls out a mecha football glove and throws three football balls on three random plants.