Imitater
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- For other uses, see Imitater (disambiguation).
Imitater is a minor recurring character within the Plants vs. Zombies franchise. Imitater is a potato with the unique ability to perfectly mimic any selected plant, allowing the player to have two of the same plant in a battle, effectively cutting their recharge time in half at the cost of an available seed slot.
Imitater is also frequently given mime-like characteristics and mannerisms, with Plants vs. Zombies Heroes even putting him in the Mime tribe and having him be completely silent.
As of Plants vs. Zombies 3, he has appeared in three games with a planned appearance in one.
Origins
Imitater's name is a portmanteau of the words "imitator," referring to the fact that it can copy, or "imitate" any plant and "tater," a slang word for potato, the real-life plant on which this plant is based.
He is a representation of a mime, as it is black and white and wears a beret. This is further suggested in Plants vs. Zombies 2, where he wears a black and white face mask, and his Almanac says that he studied at a French Theater and then took his art to the streets, like how professional mimes study and then perform on the streets.
It also mentions his technique "Potato Stuck in a Box", a reference to the famous mime act where a mime pretends that they are stuck in an invisible box.
History
Plants vs. Zombies
- Main article: Imitater (PvZ)
In the original Plants vs. Zombies game, as well as all Chinese spin-off games based on it, Imitater is one of the final plants obtained by the player and the most expensive plant the player can buy.
He appears in the in-game store "Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies" where he can be bought for $30,000 in in-game currency. On the seed selection page, selecting Imitater will open up a miniature seed selection table where the player can select a plant for Imitater to imitate.
Imitater will cost the same amount of sun as the selected imitated plant and has the same cooldown time. When played, Imitater will idle for 1.5 seconds, and then begin to transform for another 1.5 seconds, after which it functions identically to a greyscale version of said plant.
Imitater does have limitations in his ability, as he has the same durability as most normal plants during his 3 second animation, and cannot imitate the Upgrade plants sold in Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, which tend to suffer from long cooldown times.
Plants vs. Zombies 2
- Main article: Imitater (PvZ2)
Imitater reappears in the sequel game Plants vs. Zombies 2 as a premium that is purchasable for $4.99 USD and the like.
He retains his old ability to duplicate a selected plant, but unlike his previous appearance, he is able to imitate other premium plants purchased through the in-game store. The player also no longer gets a miniature selection screen to select a plant to be imitated, instead he will imitate the last plant chosen before him.
He has a much faster animation and no vulnerability. Although he is in the Enchant-mint Plant Family, he does not receive any boost from said plant when he is on the field, nor can he be boosted in the Zen Garden. Instead, he will inherit all attributes of an imitated plant, including present Zen Garden boosts of that plant.
Although his imitation ability has access to more plants in this game than in his previous appearance, Imitater's ability is still somewhat limited as he is unable to imitate Power Mints.
Plants vs. Zombies Heroes
- Main article: Imitater (PvZH)
Imitater's most recent appearance is in the mobile card game Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, being added in the Colossal Fossils card set where he is a Super rare plant in the 
Kabloom class.
He costs 3
, has 1
/4
, and is part of both the Root and Mime tribes. His ability allows him to transform into the next plant card that gets played, excluding another one of himself.
He is also the first and only plant card to share a tribe with an opposing zombie card, sharing his Mime tribe with Gargantuar Mime.
Prior to his inclusion in the Colossal Fossils set, he had previously existed in the game's code with a completely different ability and statistics than his current ones; costing 2 and only having 2, with his ability being to draw two cards when played. This ability would later be realized in the finished game through the cards Holo-Flora and Flourish.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Imitater.
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Trivia
- He was planned to appear in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 as a plant boss for the Boss Hunt Mystery Portal event. He could transform into various different zombie bosses and replicate their attacks and zombie spawns.
- He is one of the few plants to have gotten a drastic redesign between games.
- Imitater shares his transformation ability with Presto the Tadpole from Insaniquarium, a game also produced and published by PopCap Games.
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