Soapiaella

Soapiaella is amphibious Algae appearing in Plants Vs. Zombies 2, unlocked after completing Day ??? of Carbonate Seas.
Once planted, he will fire short streams of bubbles just about every 2 seconds, dealing low damage but eventually causing bubbles to stick to zombies. Once enough bubbles have collected, they will lift the zombie above the ground, and eventually cause him to become a flying zombie, going over the plants without eating them.
If tapped, Soapiella will strike a pose and cause the bubbles it created to explode, dealing damage depending on their amount and making the zombie fall down. Certain zombies due to their high weight cannot be lifted, though they will still accumulate bubbles.
==Overview==
In a similar fashion to Fume-Shroom, Soapiaella attacks in a short zone in front of him at a slow pace, sending streams of bubbles that deal 20 damage to each zombie a 1x5 area (including its own tile) every 1.8 seconds. Each attack that hits a zombie will cause an internal "Bubble" counter to rise up by 1, save for zombies like Ice Weasels and Zombie Chickens who are too weak for it to matter.
Once the count reaches 3 or above, 2-3 small bubbles will appear sticking to the zombie's sprite. At 5, the bubbles will be slight more numerous, causing to hover slightly above the ground and the zombie's movement will be slightly slower, though he will keep the same speed. Finally, when reaching 8, the bubbles will be numerous enough to cause him to hover slightly higher, in a fashion similar to Balloon Zombie, making him unable to eat plants. More bubbles can be added when reaching 11 and 13, the latter causing small stars to appear on the bubbles, though these will only be relevant later.
Certain zombies will have unique behaviors when hit by the bubbles ; "Bully"-type zombies will only turn into flying zombies when their internal counter reaches 11, while Imps will start hovering at 3 and will fly off the lawn at 5. Robotic zombies, those who are affixed to heavy objects (Pianist Zombie but not Barrel Zombie) as well as Gargantuars cannot fly at all due to their very high weight. Finally, Explorer Zombie will not receive charge on the first hit but be extinguished instead, and Parrot Zombie will be sent to the skies on the first hit
When the plant is tapped, it will lay back on its right arm and throw his other arm forward, producing a sound similar to that of someone snapping their fingers and causing all bubbles created by it to suddenly explode, making the zombies crash to the ground and dealing 100 damage for each level of "charge" reached by the bubble meter, for a maximum of 500 damage. The explosion will also deal an additional 25 damage per charge level to zombies on the same tile, which DOES STACK. Thus a zombie on a tile with 2 other zombies will take 25 + 25 damage due to the 2 other zombies also exploding.
Holding down on a single Soapiaella will cause ALL BUBBLES ON THE LAWN to explode at the same time. If one plant is destroyed and only its bubbles are left, simply tapping on the entrapped zombie will cause its bubbles to explode
Unlike other algaes of the game, this can be planted pretty much everywhere, from the underwater lawn of the Carbonate Seas to the water in the Big Wave Beach and the solid ground in all other worlds.
==Plant Food==
When fed Plant Food, Soapiaella will blow bubbles down its lane, inflate the bubbles already present on the zombies causing their internal counter to reach its maximum value and the detonate them, dealing twice the usual damage as well as twice the standard splash damage
==Origins and appearance==
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Soapiaella is based on Julpiaella subtilis, a short cylindrical and unsegmented Triploporellacean algae that was found in the Anisian deposits of the Guanling Formation. While not located within the Nanpanjiang Basin per se, this geological formation serves as an analogous location and is close enough to be a reliable source for the local biota of the time, hence the choice. 
While its ability is unique, the red star that appears on the bubbles of zombies that have reached their maximum level of charge and the sailor hat it wears are a reference to Josuke Higashikata, the protagonist of the JojoLion series who possesses the ability to generate bubbles with various effects and also bears a sailor hat, though his is different
The flavor text further pushes this, referencing the song Soft & Wet by Prince as well as the eponymous "Stand" the character possesses in the series.
The sailor hat it wears is based off an example from the American Civil War, with a ribbon added to the back.
==Almanac Entry==
==Strategies==
Soapiaella's ability could seem at first like a hinderance, allowing zombies to bypass the player's defenses by making them float over Wall-Nuts and the like, which is entirely true, as using this plant means having to rely either on an unconventional defense or not having a defense at all. Fortunately, if you take into account the floating ability, it makes it perfect as while the zombies do penetrate your defense, they are unable to deal any sort of damage to your plants and will in a controlled environment simply meet their end without having the opportunity to cause havoc.
To fully take advantage of this, you can place the Soapiaella in the middle of the lawn, leading to the zombies floating over him. You can then use his detonating ability to blow them up, causing them to fall down in a supposedly secure spot where they can be contained. If the floating ability would be a deterrent to you, simply detonate the bubbles before the zombies can take off. Remain careful however as this obviously makes the zombies fall back down on your defenses, so you should try to pick which use is the most interesting to you and adapt your defenses to that
Its damage output, even with explosions, remains rather low, and it is best used for crowd control of weak and fast zombies. Even with an explosion, it cannot kill a Buckethead by itself, and will likely need some form of assistance against tougher enemies. However, when fighting groups, it will shine immensely, as its splash damage will increase not only as the zombies get covered in bubbles but also with the amount of zombies on the tile, making for surprisingly effective explosions on stacked zombies. For this reason, Hurrikale is an excellent pick along him.
One must be careful when using this plant as its utility can significantly change depending on the world where it is featured. For example, in Far Future, the large amounts of robots are a chore to deal with, as they cannot be lifted by the bubbles and since the whole damage output is rather low it is not recommended to use him. Carbonate Seas is likely the most appropriate world for him, as while the Carbonate Platform mechanic requires Mizzianchors to place him he can be safely placed in the middle of the lawn, protected by the bubbles' lifting effect and far enough to not be affected by Placodont Zombies that ravage the leftmost lanes ; he will still however be unable to take out the tougher zombies of this world.
In general, almost every world save for Lost City has some form of counter to him, be it very tough zombies he will send past your defenses if not exploded or those that will ignores his bubbles. Make sure to always have some form of support that can deal with tougher zombies, such as heavy damage dealers like Pepper-Pult, Melon-Pult or Primal Peashooter, that can leave the crowd controlling part to the bubble explosions.
==Trivia==
* The presence of arms on the plant is paleontologically inaccurate, as the real algae specifically did not possess any sort of branches
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