Poncho Zombie

The Poncho Zombie is the thirteenth zombie that is found in the Wild West. It's first encounter is at the fifth day of Wild West. Once damaged enough, the Poncho Zombie's poncho falls off, revealing a grate that has the same health of a Bucket or nothing to protect it at all.

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 13 normal damage shots, and its appearance changes upon an absorption of 3, when the poncho is destroyed, 8 normal damage shots when its arm falls off before dying at 13 normal damage shots.

With metal grate
The Poncho Zombie absorbs 68 normal damage shots, and its appearance changes upon an absorption of 3 (when the poncho is destroyed), 22, 40 and 58 (when the metal grate is destroyed), and 63 normal damage shots when its arm falls off before dying at 68 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

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

 * The Poncho Zombie is a reference to Clint Eastwood.
 * The Poncho Zombie somehow walks like Eustace Bagge, a character from Courage the Cowardly Dog.
 * The 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.
 * The zombie is a direct 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.
 * The 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, respectively.
 * Before the 2.4 update, a grated Poncho Zombie could survive a direct hit from a Coconut Cannon, but if a Poncho Zombie took a direct hit with his poncho still on, it will kill it whether it has a grate or not. This could suggest that the Poncho Zombie's health is 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 being the Pianist Zombie, the Camel Zombies, Gargantuar, Imp and the Swashbuckler Zombie.
 * All Poncho Zombies (except the first one) in Wild West - Day 25 contain metal grates on their body.
 * This is the only zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time that has armor on its 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 that its 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: It's About Time, a Poncho Zombie wearing a metal grate can survive an instant kill.
 * Magnet-shroom can only attract its metal grate once its poncho is broken.
 * There are a secret poncho zombie glich : he's invencible