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Tangle Kelp in Plants vs. Zombies

Tangle Kelp HD

Tangle Kelp is a minor recurring character within the Plants vs. Zombies franchise. He is one of the few aquatic plants in the series alongside Lily Pad, Sea-shroom and Cattail.

The few character descriptions of Tangle Kelp describe him as a difficult and foolish, albeit well educated individual with a particular fondness for philosophy and deception.

As of Plants vs. Zombies 3, he has appeared in three main-line games.

Origins[]

Kelp forest at Taranga pinnacles Hen and Chicken Islands PA232359

He is based on kelp, large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales with long, stringy leaves that have been known to tangle small fish.

Due to being covered in thorns, his appearance in the original game may also be based on the prickly seaweed (Acanthophora spicifera), a species of marine red algae covered with many distinctive small spine-like branches in the family Rhodomelaceae.

The fact that he tangles zombies is a reference to how real-life kelp tangles small fish. The tangle in his name refers to how he tangles up zombies and drowns them underwater, defeating them.

History[]

Plants vs. Zombies[]

Main article: Tangle Kelp (PvZ)
Tangle Kelp1

In the original Plants vs. Zombies game, as well as all Chinese spin-off games based on it, Tangle Kelp is the fourth plant unlocked in the Pool area.

Tangle Kelp costs 25 sun to plant and ensnares the first zombies he encounters and drags it to the bottom to the water, instantly defeating it. This makes Tangle Kelp the aquatic equivalent to both Potato Mine and Squash, having the former's low sun cost but lacks an arming time and can attack from behind like the latter.

Tangle Kelp is exceptional in that he costs one third of what would require to plant Squash in the water and is able to be planted in water all on his own unlike Potato Mine, who cannot be planted on water even on a Lily Pad. Unlike Potato Mine and Squash however, Tangle Kelp can only defeat one zombie at a time and cannot be planted on land.

Plants vs. Zombies 2[]

Main article: Tangle Kelp (PvZ2)
Tangle Kelp2

Tangle Kelp returns in the sequel Plants vs. Zombies 2 as the second plant unlocked in the Big Wave Beach world, where he receives more utility.

He retains his cost and function as an aquatic single-use, instant-kill plant, but attacks much more slowly than how he does in the first game. Whenever Tangle Kelp attacks a zombie too large to be dragged underwater such as a Gargantuar, he merely deals 400 damage to it instead.

Much like Lily Pad, Tangle Kelp offers more functionality in Big Wave Beach, due to there being a larger amount of water on the board as opposed to in the Pool area in the first game. Tangle Kelp can also be levelled up to allow him to attack more than one zombie at a time.

Plants vs. Zombies 3[]

Main article: Tangle Kelp (PvZ3)
Tangle Kelp3

Tangle Kelp's most recent appearance is in Plants vs. Zombies 3, where he returns as a plant usable in Lost Keys Lake's water areas.

Tangle Kelp in this game costs only 1 sun to plant due to the updated sun counter, and his attack works rather differently than in previous games. Rather than dragging zombies underwater like he's done in the past, Tangle Kelp now instead lunges at zombies that approach him and deals a large amount of damage that defeats the target instantly regardless of armor.

Tangle Kelp faces unique challenges in this game due to Lost Keys Lake's water lanes varying in layout from level to level, which leave him in completely situational positions in certain lanes and completely unavailable in others. Another challenge Tangle Kelp faces in this game is the Water Surge mechanic that can shift the positions of plants planted in water meaning that, if the water flows vertically, Tangle Kelp could be moved to an entirely different lane than the one he was meant to be in, allowing particularly tougher enemies to continue advancing down the lane possibly unopposed.

Gallery[]

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Tangle Kelp.
Tangle Kelp Plant Food
Visit this page to see it.
Tangle Kelp Plant Food

Trivia[]

Spiky SpikeweedGW2
  • While not officially confirmed to be the same plant, Spiky Spikeweed from both Garden Warfare games bares a strong resemblance to Tangle Kelp.
  • He, and all other algae (like seaweed and kelp) in general, is technically not a plant, but a member of the protist kingdom, a wastebasket taxon that includes all eukaryotes that do not fit into the animal, plant or fungi kingdoms. This makes it along with Spikerock and the mushrooms the only plants in the original game not to be in any members of the plant family.
    Tangle KelpAS
  • Tangle Kelp was originally planned to appear in the Chinese turn-based RPG game Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars, using his appearance from the original game. His active ability would have been to target the closest zombie, while damaging all zombies nearby. It is currently unknown why his appearance was scrapped.

See also[]

V · E
Recurring characters
Plants
Plants vs.
Zombies
Peashooter · Sunflower · Cherry Bomb · Wall-nut · Potato Mine · Snow Pea · Chomper · Repeater · Puff-shroom · Sun-shroom · Fume-shroom · Grave Buster · Hypno-shroom · Scaredy-shroom · Ice-shroom · Doom-shroom · Lily Pad · Squash · Threepeater · Tangle Kelp · Jalapeno · Spikeweed · Torchwood · Tall-nut · Sea-shroom · Plantern · Cactus · Blover · Split Pea · Starfruit · Pumpkin · Magnet-shroom · Cabbage-pult · Flower Pot · Kernel-pult · Coffee Bean · Garlic · Marigold · Melon-pult · Gatling Pea · Twin Sunflower · Gloom-shroom · Cattail · Winter Melon · Spikerock · Cob Cannon · Imitater
Plants vs.
Zombies
Adventures
Fire Peashooter · Bamboo Shoot · Chilly Pepper · Power Flower
Plants vs.
Zombies 2
Bloomerang · Bonk Choy · Snapdragon · Coconut Cannon · Chili Bean · Lightning Reed · Laser Bean · Citron · E.M.Peach · Magnifying Grass · Red Stinger · Sweet Potato · Witch Hazel
Plants vs.
Zombies 2

(Chinese
version)
Carrotillery · Dandelion · Tactical Cuke
Plants vs.
Zombies
Online
Venus Flytrap · Endurian
Plants vs.
Zombies:
Garden
Warfare 2
Rose · Kernel Corn
Plants vs.
Zombies
Heroes
Night Cap
Zombies
Plants vs.
Zombies
Browncoat Zombie · Flag Zombie · Conehead Zombie · Buckethead Zombie · Newspaper Zombie · Screen Door Zombie · All-Star · Disco Zombie · Backup Dancer · Ducky Tube Zombie · Snorkel Zombie · Balloon Zombie · Digger Zombie · Zombie Yeti · Gargantuar · Imp · Dr. Zomboss
Plants vs.
Zombies:
Great Wall
Edition
Talisman Zombie
Plants vs.
Zombies
Adventures
MC Zom-B
Plants vs.
Zombies 2
Zombie Chicken · Zombot Sharktronic Sub
Plants vs.
Zombies:
Garden
Warfare
Foot Soldier · Engineer · Scientist
Plants vs.
Zombies:
Garden
Warfare 2
Z-Mech · Super Brainz · Captain Deadbeard
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