| “ | Harnessing illicit future butt technology, this little Imp and his Z-Mech may just be the key to victory in the Battle of Zomburbia. Don't tell him that though, he's just having a good time. | „ |
| ~ Imp's sticker book description. |
| “ | Once watched giant mecha anime for 12 hours straight. | „ |
| ~ Z-Mech's description in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes. |
The Imp, better known by his suit Z-Mech, is a major antagonist of the Plants vs. Zombies franchise.
He is a playable Imp infamous for his wildly high mobility and disruptive gadgets. In the heat of battle, he summons his powerful Z-Mech battle suit to swing fights in his favour and wreak havoc on the plants.
History[]
Plants vs. Zombies 2[]
Z-Mech appeared in Arena as one of the boss fights. He appears by floating onto the lawn while being protected by a force field. After that, he summons the Z-Mech, then he uses a variety of attacks to hinder the player and his defences, if defeated, the Z-Mech explodes and the Imp ejects, if not defeated in time, he will fly away.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare series[]
He made his first appearance as one of the 8 playable characters on the zombie's side.
His top Zombie variant, Z-Mech 11011-3, or also known as Steve, can be met if the player enters his portal. He introduces himself and gives them the first quest to get the Imps to the park. When the first quest is completed, he asks the player to get the plants to stop partying so the imps could sleep. After the second quest is completed, the player is tasked with a Special Ops mission that entails taking Steve on a vacation to Time Park. Finally, after the player completes all three quests, he congratulates them and sent them to either go meet the 3rd zombie, or meet Dr. Zomboss at his secret lab.
In Agent Citron's quest, Triangulation Station, the Z7 Z-Mech appears as a mini-boss. When he saw the signal, he teleported to Earth and battled against the player. Also, in his another quest, the S.H.R.IMP appeared as a boss, who is Iron Ball's bounty.
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville[]
He returns in this game as one of the playable zombies as an Attack class.
Plants vs. Zombies Heroes[]
He returned in this game as one of the playable characters on the Zombies' side and he is in the Hearty and Crazy classes.
Background[]
In his introduction comic strip, when the plants tried to chase him, he ran to his lab and unleashed his battle mech which scares them away.
Plant Missions[]
In IMPossible Mission, Green Shadow, Citron and Grass Knuckles intruded onto the factory Z-Tech while he's sharing his plan to make more Z-mechs with Dr. Zomboss. He uses his battle mech to attack them, only being defeated with Citron's Spin Dash which destroys the Z-mechs he produced and seems to leave him and Zomboss dazed.
Zombie Missions[]
In Code Orange! Citron Invades!, when Dr. Zomboss saw Citron, Rose and Grass Knuckles replacing his flag with their own on the moon, he ordered the Z-Mech, Brain Freeze and Rustbolt to stop them. While the plants and zombies were fighting each other, Citron attempts to use his Spin Dash to defeat him. However, he used his robotic leg to kick him off the moon, causing Rose and Grass Knuckles to leave. The Z-mech, Rustbolt, and Brain Freeze then celebrate their victory.
Variants[]
Lil' Drake[]
| “ | From his winged cap, to his Basilisk Blasters, to his hulking Drake Z-Mech, it's pretty clear that Lil' Drake has a thing for dragons. It should come as no surprise then, that his dream is to one day achieve full flight with his butt-mounted boosters. | „ |
| ~ Lil's Drake's description. |
The Lil' Drake is a Super Rare dragon-themed Imp variant whose rapid-fire twin Basilisk Blasters ignites enemies in front of him. He also calls in his Drake Z-Mech that has its fiery primary weapon and abilities.
Pylon Imp[]
| “ | Not content to just look like a Pylon, this Imp actually works part-time as a road cone. It may not be glamorous, but it's rewarding work and he's happy to have it. | „ |
| ~ Pylon Imp's description. |
The Pylon Imp - a Rare road cone-themed Imp variant - wields his two-shot-burst Pylon Punishers that does explosive damages to enemies. His Pylon Mech's primary weapon and abilities also perform type of damages similar to his primary weapons.
S.H.R.IMP[]
| “ | The S.H.R.Imp, or Ol' Shrimpy Boy as his friends call him, is actually the first (and only) member of Dr. Zomboss' Special Hydro Response Imp, or "S.H.R.Imp". Designed to combat all aquatic Plant life, this little guy may look ridiculous, but he means business. | „ |
| ~ S.H.R.IMP's description. |
The Special Hydro Response Imp (or S.H.R.IMP) is another Super Rare variant of the Imp. He is a shrimp-themed Imp whose Shrimpy Lasers are slow but high damaging. His Shrimp Z-Mech fires an overheating Shrimpy Beam and performs aquatic abilities to plants.
Z7 Imp[]
| “ | I'm the Z7 Imp, and this is my favorite Imp costume on The Citadel. | „ |
| ~ Z7 Imp's description. |
The Z7 Imp is a Mass Effect themed Imp variant whose Z-11 Suppressors are single-shot guns that fires as fast as how long the players hold their triggers. His Z7 Z-Mech performs moves from the same media he's in.
Party Imp[]
| “ | Party Imp got so into his costume that he super-glued his wig on, permanently. Instead of fretting, he's embraced the party life and has pledged to keep dancing until the Plants leave Zomburbia for good. | „ |
| ~ Party Imp's description. |
While the Party Imp's abilities are similar to the original's, he only needs to vanquish fewer plants than all other party characters to fill in his Party Time. However, his Party Time lasts much shorter than theirs.
Scallywag Imp[]
| “ | After having eaten all the cannons on his captain's ship, Scallywag Imp was forced to walk the plank. With just enough power in his butt-booster cannons he hovered his way back to shore. He now has his own ship on land and aspires to someday be a captain! | „ |
| ~ Scallywag Imp's description. |
The Scallywag Imp is a pirate-themed Legendary variant of the Imp whose Looty Shooties perform splash damages to enemies. His Scallywag Mech has precisive primary weapons and pirate-themed abilities. He also has Yohoho Mode, where he moves faster and gains extra endurance after filling the bar of this mode.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | For Z-Mech, any target is a good target. | „ |
| ~ Missile Madness's description. |
- Imp Blasters: A set of dual wielded, fully automatic guns that fire laser beams at his enemies.
- Flight: The Imp can fly in a short time using his Butt Booster. In Plants vs. Zombies 2, he can be seen flying into the lawn while being protected by a force field.
- Gravity Grenade: He can toss a grenade that lifts plants into the air while holding them in place and disabling their abilities for as long as the grenade lasts for.
- Robo Call: After a long cooldown, he regurgitates a phone to call upon his Z-Mech.
- Impkata: He can spin around using his jetpack at rapid speeds while firing his guns to deal damage to plants around him for a short while.
Z-Mech only[]
- Robo Laser: The Z-Mech's primary weapon, a high rate of fire, fully automatic laser blaster that deals heavy damage to enemy plants.
- Missile Madness:
- In Plants vs. Zombies Heroes: He can fire a missile to deal 3 damage to a plant and 1 damage to the rest of the plants on the field.
- In Garden Warfare 2 and Battle for Neighborville: The Z-Mech unleashes a barrage of missiles at rapid speeds, making short work of any plants caught in its wake.
- Robo-Stomp/Bionic Bash: The Z-Mech stomps/smashes the floor, damaging nearby plants for heavy damage.
- Explosive Escape: When the battle becomes too much for even the powerful Z-Mech, the Imp can eject from it, activating its self destruct sequence, dealing high damage to plants caught in its blast radius.
- Zombie Summoning: An ability exclusive to Plants vs. Zombies 2, he can summon Bug Bot Imps, Jetpack Zombies, Disco Jetpacks, and Blastronauts.
- Lightning Bolt: A superpower that strikes plants for 3 damage.
- Brute Strength: A superpower that boosts any zombie's attack by 3.
- Rock Wall: A superpower that boosts any zombie's health by 5.
Weakness[]
The Imp is small, fast and agile, however he's also very weak, meaning he can get vanquished very easily with a well placed shot. The Z-Mech battle suit is powerful, and it's very tough, however it is very big and very slow, making an easy target for things such as Pea Gatlings and Sun Beams, it also has the issue of limited fuel, after it runs out, the Imp automatically activates Explosive Escape. Additionally, EMPeaches, can stun this mech longer than any other zombies.
Other appearances[]
Plants vs. Zombies comics[]
He appeared as one of the supporting antagonists in the comics as Citron's archenemy. Also, a variant of him, Citron Smasher, being piloted by the same Imp, was able to defeat him, only being destroyed by an E.M.Peach
Mass Effect: Andromeda[]
The Z7 Imp with the Z7 Mech appeared as an Easter Egg in Pathfinder’s Quarters.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Z-Mech is based on the robot Titan from Titan Fall, and the Imp is based on the Pilots from the same game.
- According to the official Garden Warfare 2 prequel novel, the Z-Mech can translate the Imp's thoughts.
- In his Plants vs. Zombies Heroes description, it is stated he likes watching giant mecha anime.
- In Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, if Missile Madness is used more than once in a game, the splash damage will increase by 1 each time it is used. This is an unintended bug.
- He shares the same theme as Professor Brainstorm and Rustbolt.
Specific to his variants[]
- Lil' Drake is the only Imp variant that do not have the word Imp in his name.
- Z7 Imp, alongside Hover Goat-3000, 80s Action Hero, and 8-bit Zombie, are the only zombies that have numbers in their name.
- The Disco-tron 3000 and the Z7 Z-Mech's names also contain number, but since their names refers to the machines, they do not count.
External Links[]
- Imp on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
