Zombot Troupe Manipulator

歪比巴卜！

This article is about content available solely in the People's Republic of China.

For other uses, see Zombot.

Zombot Troupe Manipulator (剧团操纵者; pinyin: Jùtuán Cāozòngzhě) is the boss of Renaissance Age in the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2. It stays stationary, occupying the 3 rightmost columns, receiving attacks form all 5 lanes. Dr. Zomboss will be constantly making speeches with famous phrases of William Shakespeare, which after each phrase spoken, an attack will be done.

He will eventually drop the actors of the current act into a trapdoor, after which the actors will join the battle as Elite zombies, and whilst these Elite zombies are alive, Zombot Troupe Manipulator can not be damaged in any way. The Zombot will additionally make a transition with curtains as cutscenes in order to switch to the next act which will features different actors, and by transitioning from first act to the second act, the lawn will suddenly turn into night.

Zombot Troupe Manipulator absorbs a total of 800K HP, with 150K HP on first act, 150K HP again on second act, and 500K HP on third act. As soon as an act starts, the player will need to damage 20% of Zombot's health on the current act before Dr. Zomboss drops the actors through the trapdoor in order to start fighting the actors as Elite zombies, meaning that he will drop the actors after the first and second acts reach 120K HP, and 400K HP for the third act.

Act 1 features a play on the Merchant of Venice, featuring Shylock Zombie and Antonio Zombie, from which only Shylock Zombie appears on the lawn as an Elite zombie. Act 2 features a play on the Hamlet, featuring Hamlet Zombie and Laertes Zombie, from which only Hamlet Zombie appears on the lawn as an Elite zombie. Act 3 features a play on the Romeo and Juliet, featuring Romeo Zombie and Juliet Zombie, from which both of them appear on the lawn as Elite zombies.

Origins

Zombot Troupe Manipulator is based on William Shakespeare and his plays, with Dr. Zomboss being William Shakespeare himself. The Zombot itself is a troupe with actors, with the actors performing William Shakespeare's plays.

Act 1 (Phase 1) is based on The Merchant of Venice play of William Shakespeare, which features Shylock Zombie who is based on Shylock, a Venetian moneylender in this play, and Antonio Zombie who is based on Antonio, a Venetian merchant in this play as well as the protagonist of it. The play on the troupe specifically lives the moment of Act IV, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice, in which Shylock Zombie is about to take the "pound of flesh" from Antonio Zombie but is interrupted by Dr. Zomboss and falls down the trapdoor in order to enter the lawn instead, hence not succeeding in taking the "pound of flesh", while Antonio Zombie is kept chained to the table until the end of the act.

Act 2 (Phase 2) is based on The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark play of William Shakespeare, which features Hamlet Zombie who is based on Prince Hamlet, a Danish prince in this play as well as the protagonist of it, and Laertes Zombie who is based on Laertes, the enemy of Prince Hamlet. The play on the troupe specifically lives the moment of Act V, Scene 2 of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, in which Dr. Zomboss arranges a fencing match between Hamlet Zombie and Laertes Zombie, and right before both of them fall down the trapdoor, Laertes Zombie gets shot by Hamlet Zombie, causing him to fall down the trapdoor first before having the chance of stabbing Hamlet Zombie, after which he is declared "dead" by Dr. Zomboss, hence the reason only Hamlet Zombie enters the lawn.

Act 3 (Phase 3) is based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet play of William Shakespeare, which features Romeo Zombie who is based on Romeo Montague, the male protagonist of this play, and Juliet Zombie who is based on Juliet Capulet, the female protagonist of this play. The play on the troupe specifically lives the moment of Act II, Scene 2 of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, in which Romeo Zombie expresses his love to Juliet Zombie and vice versa, before both falling down the trapdoor to enter the lawn.

The phrases which Dr. Zomboss constantly says between each of his attacks during each of his acts are phrases from the three mentioned plays of William Shakespeare, each phrase appearing in their respective act:

Original Text	English Translation	Corresponding Play	Act & Scene	Notes
好戏开场了	The show has begun	None	None	This phrase serves as the opening phrase of Dr. Zomboss, which he says it while the player is planning their defense before starting the level.
噢，聪明的小僵僵	O wise young zombie	The Merchant of Venice	Act IV, Scene 1	In the original play, it is part of Shylock's speech albeit Dr. Zomboss changed the word "judge" to "zombie", word by word: O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!
噢，博学的法官！	O noble judge!	The Merchant of Venice	Act IV, Scene 1	In the original play, it is part of Shylock's speech, him praising the judge, Portia, word by word: O noble judge! O excellent young man!
我宣布法庭许可你， 法律判给你…	The court allows it, and the law awards it...	The Merchant of Venice	Act IV, Scene 1	In the original play, it is part of Portia's speech albeit Dr. Zomboss swapped the words "law" and "court", word by word: And you must cut this flesh from off his breast: The law allows it, and the court awards it.
你必须割下整一磅肉， 不准流一滴血…	Shed thou no blood, but cut just a pound of flesh...	The Merchant of Venice	Act IV, Scene 1	In the original play, it is part of Portia's speech regarding the instructions of taking the pound of flesh, word by word: Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more But just a pound of flesh
脆弱啊， 你的名字是女人…	Frailty, thy name is woman...	The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark	Act I, Scene 2	In the original play, it is part of Hamlet's speech regarding the remarriage of his own mother, word by word: Frailty, thy name is woman!–
虽是疯话， 倒也有些道理。	Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.	The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark	Act II, Scene 2	In the original play, it is Lord Polonius' response to Hamlet's speech, word by word: Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t.
生存还是毁灭，这是 一个问题…	To be, or not to be, that is the question...	The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark	Act III, Scene 1	In the original play, it is part of Hamlet's speech, word by word: To be, or not to be: that is the question
玫瑰不叫玫瑰 依然芳香如故…	A rose by any other name would smell as good...	The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet	Act II, Scene 2	In the original play, it is Romeo's reply to Juliet's good-nights wish, word by word: What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;
晚上没有你的光， 我只有一千次的心伤。	A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.	The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet	Act II, Scene 2	In the original play, it is Romeo's reply to Juliet's good-nights wish, word by word: A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.
被团在童话之外的 你和我，要往哪里去	Where are you and me going, trapped in a fantasy?	爱情万岁 Album by MayDay	"Romeo and Juliet" by MayDay	This phrase originates from a song made by the MayDay (五月天) musical band, titled 罗密欧与朱丽叶 ("Romeo and Juliet") as part of their 爱情万岁 album, specifically originating from this lyric of the song: 被困在童话之外我和你　要往哪里去

Attacks

Zombot Troupe Manipulator has various attacks that act differently in each phase.

• Zombie Summoning (召唤僵尸): Dr. Zomboss orders zombies to be summoned, which comes in two separate categories: 1. Can summon a bunch of Glider Zombies, 2. Can summon all kinds of zombies (depends on the phase) except Glider Zombies and Sculptor Imp Zombies.
• Aircraft Raid (飞行器突袭): Dr. Zomboss will bomb the 6 leftmost columns after every cutscene to the next phase. This attack can be countered by Camera Artifact or Healing Artifact.
• Sculpture Formation (雕塑阵法): Dr. Zomboss will order Marble Mounds to be spawned on the lawn, which will spawn on random tiles, whilst Sculptor Imp Zombies will also emerge from the ground in order to sculpt the Marble Mounds. These Marble Mounds are weaker than the usual Marble Mounds present in Renaissance Age levels, and instead have 8000 HP, and they will always contain only Aristocrat Zombies.
• Salute Bombardia (礼炮轰击): Dr. Zomboss will be setting up his cannons to shoot missiles on the player's plants. The aiming of these cannons is determined by the player's latest plant placement, as the player can control where the missiles land by planting a plant on a different tile, which will make the missile crosshairs move to that tile in which the latest plant was planted. This attack comes in 3 shapes: Phase 1 makes the cannons shoot 3 missiles next to each other which are sometimes horizontally next to each other and sometimes vertically next to each other; Phase 2 makes the cannons shoot as same as Phase 1 except with 5 missiles next to each other instead; Phase 3 will make the cannons shoot either in a diamond/rhombus shape, or in a hollow rectangle shape, a total of 13 missiles and 16 missiles respectively.

Phase	Health	Summoned zombies	Attacks
1	150000 HP		Summons Fires 3 missiles Spawns 2 Marble Mounds
2	150000 HP		Summons Fires 5 missiles Spawns 3 Marble Mounds
3	500000 HP		Summons and Fires 13 or 16 missiles Spawns 5 Marble Mounds

Gallery

• 

  HD Renaissance Zomboss
• 

  Silhouette Teaser on the Official Website
• 

  Icon on the Official Website
• 

  Render on the Official Website
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  Sprites (1)
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  Sprites (2)
• 

  Silhouette for an older design of the podium
• 

  Silhouette teaser for the old design of the Zombot, alongside the old design of the Steam Zombot
• 

  Another silhouette teaser of the old design
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  Showcase image
• 

  Zombot Troupe Manipulator's troupe reveal
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  Zombot Troupe Manipulator's troupe reveal in attack form
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  Podium on the map
• 

  Podium on the map after defeating the Zombot
• 

  Banner on the Ultimate Challenge

Trivia

• According to the almanac entry, Dr. Zomboss declares Laertes Zombie dead before sending the actors on the lawn, hence the reason he does not appear as an Elite zombie to be fought alongside Hamlet Zombie.
• At an astonishing 800000 health, the Zombot Troupe Manipulator has the single most base health of any zombie in the entire series, beating out The Yeti King with more than double the health.
• The Phases of this Zombot are officially referred to as "Acts".
• This Zombot was initially called Renaissance Zombot (复兴僵尸博士; Fùxīng Jiāngshī Bóshì) similarly to Steam Zombot and Fairytale Zombot, but before release it got renamed to Zombot Troupe Manipulator.
• It visually looks like Zombot Multi-stage Masher, however none of the abilities have any similarities between the two.
• The boss for Renaissance Age was initially planned to be a cyclops-style zombot that would act the complete same as the initial old version of Steam Zombot, but was later on reiterated into a troupe-play.
  • The said cyclops-style zombot was confirmed to have been inspired by an episode of Futurama. The inspiration was taken from the episode The Duh-Vinci Code, which features an antiquated machinery, the Spacecraft da Vinci spaceship (not to be confused with the Machina Magnifica, another machinery present in the very same episode irrelevant to this cyclops-style zombot).
  • The troupe version of the Zombot had undergone many changes during its development:
    • Dr. Zomboss would have voicelines everytime a Shakespearen phrase was said before an attack, specifically Dr. Zomboss' voicelines from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2.
    • The Zombot could be damaged while the Elite zombies were on the lawn fighting, allowing the Elite zombies to carry on for the next act if the Zombot was damaged up to his next act before the Elite zombies died.
    • Antonio Zombie would join the battle alongside Shylock Zombie instead of staying chained on the stage. The two would act the exact same, and would be stationary on the lanes 2 and 4 respectively, throwing money bags anywhere on the lawn.
    • The money bags thrown by Shylock Zombie and Antonio Zombie would act more similarly to the salads of Roman Caesar Zombie, however they changed the money bags to be manually damaged and defeated instead of fading away, applying stronger effects to the zombies in the lane, and additionally spawning zombies in the money bag's lane.
    • Hamlet Zombie would have a barrage related to it that was attached on the front of the troupe, which would start spraying projectiles in an arc shape very similarly to the phase 3 attack of Zombot Vulture Fighter.
    • Hamlet Zombie's ability of shooting bullets was initially planned and later scrapped, making him a small threat as he would only go down his lane and kill plants he came in contact with. This decision was however reverted right before release and his ability of shooting bullets ended up being added.
    • The Statue Formation ability would spawn the Marble Mounds on fixed positions rather than in random tiles of the lawn.
    • The aim of the cannons from the Salute Bombardia ability were initially planned to be controlled with 4 Floor-de-Lis tiles to move the crosshairs in all 4 directions, which said tiles would activate just like the way they get activated normally, i.e. through zombies stepping on them or by planting a Wax Gourd Guard.
    • Hamlet Zombie was planned to use a Poison Resilience, most likely due to the fact that he gets poisoned by the poisoned sword of Laertes, in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
    • Romeo Zombie was planned to use a Poison Resilience, most likely due to the fact that he poisoned himself after Juliet's faking of death which fooled him, in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
    • Juliet Zombie was planned to use a Physical Resilience, most likely due to the fact that she stabbed herself with the dagger of Romeo after finding out that Romeo has died, in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
    • Ballet Imp was planned to be summoned through the Zombie Summoning ability.

See also

• Dr. Zomboss
• Zombot Multi-stage Masher

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