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 abilities 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 Gargantuar, making it harder for it to get to plants in order to crush them. It also smashes twice at a time.

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.

Appearances

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

Strategies
Gargantuar Primes are harder to kill than the others. One can already be threatening but ten to thirty of these can destroy all plants in your lawn. If paired with ten to twenty Mecha-Football Zombies, it can cause lots of havoc on your lawn, emptying everything. When it launches its Bug Bot Imp, 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 at the backmost columns as most of the time, 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. Due to how hitboxes work, they need to advance a little before they can actually be stunned. To delay it further, put an Iceberg Lettuce in front of it as long as there are no other zombies to protect it. A Plant Food-boosted Iceberg Lettuce 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 the 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, 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, don't put your defenses too up front. Don't 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, and will cost you 250 sun. 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. If the third column has a Spikerock and the second column has a Winter Melon, the Bug Bots will get a few bites in and possibly eat the Winter Melon. The best way to deal with them is with a Magnifying Grass, as it's the cheapest to plant option and can destroy them in one shot or using Plant Food on a Citron will also destroy it in one shot, as long as there are no machines in the way.

In order to progress in the Terror from Tomorrow levels, 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 tiles of the same color (mininum of three in almost all games) and power them up. 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 Power Tile sunflower 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. Repeat as needed. For this strategy to work though, you need a lot of Plant Food so you'll need a Power Lily and usually an Imitater as well.

Another strategy that works well and does not rely on Plant Food or premium plants is to place Magnifying Grass on the back tiles, Twin Sunflowers on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th columns (15 plants), and Winter Melons on the 5th and 6th columns. With this placement, Gargantuar Primes will generally eliminate the Magnifying Grass and Twin Sunflowers with their laser eyes. Both plants are inexpensive to replace. Use Cherry Bombs and E.M.Peach when waves arrive. Shoot Bug Bots with a single Magnifying Grass shot when they land. Line the area in front of the Winter Melons with Potato Mines and Iceberg Lettuce.

Trivia

 * Despite the Almanac saying it has heavy armor, it has the same amount of health as a normal Gargantuar: 175 normal damage shots.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Oddly, in the World's map, it is seen as a normal one.
 * The Gargantuar Prime is the only Gargantuar to have stiff speed (the others are "hungry").
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Gargantuar Prime is the only Gargantuar to appear in levels other than Day 8, Day 25 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 says that its laser eyes burn tiles, it actually burns plants.
 * The Gargantuar Prime's lasers don't always instantly kill plants, despite saying that it incinerates them.
 * There's only a small chance of survival rate for plants as most of the times, it can be killed instantly.
 * The Gargantuar Prime looks similar to the Zombot, another robot based on the Gargantuar.
 * When incinerating a plant, the plant burns up just as it would if it was burned by an Explorer Zombie.
 * If you look closely, the Gargantuar Prime actually is missing a tooth. It is located on the lower part, just like a normal Gargantuar.
 * The only plants that can't 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 the Gargantuar-looking part is just a robot piloted by an Imp.
 * The Garguantar Prime can be defeated in one hit with the Citron's Plant Food ability.