Imitater

The Imitater is a potato spud mime which can mimic any plant except Upgrade Plants and itself. It can be used to effectively cut the recharge time of plants in half, although it takes up another seed slot.

Plants vs. Zombies
The Imitater is the last plant obtainable in the game. It costs $30,000 to purchase the seed packet from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, making it the most expensive plant in the game.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
The Imitater is a premium plant that can be purchased for $2.99 of real-world money.

Plants vs. Zombies
Imitater

Imitaters let you use two of the same plant during a level!

"I remember the Zombie Wars back in '76," says Imitater in a raspy, old-man's voice. "Back then, we didn't have all these fancy peashooters and jalapenos. All we had was guts. Guts and a spoon."

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
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Imitaters let you use two of the same plant during a level!

Special: can imitate any other plant

Having studied French Theater at Julienne, the Imitater went to the streets with his art, and has perfected his technique he calls "Potato stuck in a box".

General
The Imitater, when planted, will appear as itself, but after three seconds, transforms into its copied form. The copied form costs as much and behaves just like the original plant. On most versions of the original Plants vs. Zombies, the plant will appear monochrome colored. On the iOS and Android versions, as well as in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, the Imitater version is the same color as the regular plant. Imitated explosives will explode, and an Imitater Tall-nut has the same health as a regular one.

Note: The Imitater cannot copy upgrade plants such as the Gloom-shroom or the Cob Cannon without hacking. It also cannot imitate more than one plant at once or itself. But since Twin Sunflower, Spikerock and Winter Melon are no longer upgrades in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, Imitater can imitate them without hacking in that game.

Plants vs. Zombies
After purchasing the Imitater, it appears on the lower right part of the plant selection screen in a new added box on the side when choosing your seeds. Selecting it brings up an overlay, asking which plant it shall imitate for the round. After selecting, it will take up a slot as the imitated plant in a melancholy gray or shaded green (depending on version).

thumb|300px|right It is not necessary to choose the original seed packet as well or to use the original version of the plant before using the Imitater version. There is no clear benefit to having only the Imitater, as it requires time to transform but is otherwise identical to the original plant. Therefore, an Imitater can be eaten, crushed, or smashed by a zombie while transforming.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
Selecting the Imitater's seed packet causes it to imitate the last seed selected, making it impossible to bring an Imitater Plant without the regular version. After selecting, it will take up a slot as the imitated plant in a melancholy gray. Imitater transforms notably faster in this game. thumb|360px|right|Defense of the Imitaters (hacked)

Plants vs. Zombies
The Imitater can be used to effectively halve the recharge time for the selected plant, assuming the copied plant was also selected. At the starting of a Survival: Endless level, use the Imitater to imitate a Sunflower to make your sun production faster.

Good candidates for Imitation:
 * Wall-nut
 * Tall-nut
 * Pumpkin
 * Squash
 * Sunflower
 * Sun-shroom
 * Jalapeno
 * Cherry Bomb
 * Doom-shroom
 * Potato Mine
 * Ice-shroom
 * Marigold (if Gold Farming)
 * Puff-shroom
 * Sea-shroom
 * Tangle Kelp
 * Starfruit (if playing Seeing Stars or trying to get Shooting Star)
 * Hypno-shroom
 * Anything else with a slow or very slow recharge.

The only disadvantages to the Imitater are that it can only imitate one plant in a level and the time it takes to transform. When placed right in front of zombies, they may eat it before it finishes transforming. This is mainly a problem when using it to imitate explosives and Hypno-shroom which are placed right into the middle of the group of zombies they're intended to destroy, and it also creates a problem when trying to use it as a last minute defensive plant, as it takes a regular amount of chomps to eat while it is transforming. It isn't impossible to use effectively, but there is a risk that it will be eaten before it explodes. This is also a risk if you are using an Imitater Tall-nut as it could get eaten before it imitates the plant. Fortunately, Imitaters regenerate health to the amount of the imitated plant upon finishing transforming.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
Imitaters at this moment are now considered as Premium Plants and must be purchased with a real-life currency. Imitaters can mimic plants in this game much faster than the previous one, estimating the time for approximate one second. Also, Imitaters are more useful in Endless Zone especially in higher levels.

Good candidates for imitation: As with its previous game, it can only mimic one plant but this time, it will mimic what is above the Imitater. For example if you have chosen Cabbage-pult first then underneath is an Imitater, it will definitely mimic the Cabbage-pult. Generally, you can never ever select the Imitater first this time. You have to chose the original seed first before the Imitater itself.
 * Twin Sunflower (For faster production)
 * Lightning Reed (For a much faster defense establishment against Zombie Chickens)
 * Potato Mine (Easily kills first two zombies that appear in the lawn.)
 * Tall-nut (To provide an immediate stop from Zombie Bull Riders hurled by Zombie Bulls if ever one managed to appear in a very early state.)
 * Jalapeno (Hastens zombie bombardment in rows. You may use this on two column planks only in Dead Man's Booty.)
 * Cherry Bomb (Massive damage to zombies in three different rows.)
 * Power Lily (Creates two Plant Foods. Use this on higher levels but it is more advisable on Terror from Tomorrow especially in levels with four flags and most Gargantuar Primes will attack in unison.)
 * Spring Bean (Bounces two zombies at once)
 * Squash (Squashes zombies much faster)
 * Chili Bean (Kills and stuns zombies quicker)
 * Sunflower (Faster sun development if you don't have Twin Sunflower)
 * E.M.Peach (Stops machines quicker)
 * Grave Buster (Greatly removes two Tombstones. Use this on Pyramid of Doom in levels with large number of Tombstones.)

General

 * The name of the plant is a pormateau of the words "imitate" and "tater", a slang for potato.
 * The Imitater may be a representation of a mime, as it is black and white and wears a beret.
 * A beret is a soft, visorless cap with a close-fitting headband and a wide, round top often with a tab at its center. This type of headgear is mostly use in Military Service.
 * This might explain the fact as well that the Imitater is part of Zombie Wars because the plant was formerly a soldier.
 * This is further supported by the fact that the Imitater's Almanac entry in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, which says that he studied French Theater and went to the streets with his technique "Potato stuck in a box".
 * The Imitater, the Cattail, the Hard-nut, the Acespearagus, the Beetboxer, and the Gatling Pea are the only plants with headwear.
 * The Chili Bean also wears a sombrero in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare.
 * However, Chili Bean's sombrero was only shown in the Garden Ops demo, and doesnt appear in the official release
 * Some of the other plants in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time also get headgear as their costumes as presents or Piñata Party awards.
 * Not including the above two sentences, they are all bought at Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, or are VIP Plants.

Plants vs. Zombies

 * In the Almanac the Imitater says that it remembers the zombie wars on '76 (1976, to be exact), obviously meaning there was more than one battle that zombies kept losing, since there are still humans.
 * The Imitater is the one of the only four gray plants in the game, along with the Spikerock, the Grave Buster, and the Doom-shroom.
 * The Imitater's statistics can be shown on the top left hand corner of the Suburban Almanac, where there is a small picuture of an Imitater that is only found when it is bought. This can be hard for players to find on their own, so the Tree of Wisdom will tell them it is there.
 * On the iOS and Android versions, the Imitater will have a regular seed packet icon in the Almanac, probably because there is no Tree of Wisdom.
 * The Imitater, when flattened, will turn into the flat version of the copied plant with its original color, even before transforming.
 * On the iOS and Android versions, the Imitater turns into an exact replica, without the black and white color, although on the seed packet appears greenish.
 * The Imitater is the only plant without any statistics in the Suburban Almanac such as Sun and damage.
 * This is because the Imitater will have the exact same stats as the imitated plant.
 * The Imitater cannot copy upgrade plants although the imitated plant can be upgraded.
 * However, you can imitate upgrades through hacks.
 * If an imitated plant is upgraded, it returns to the 'normal' color of the upgrade.
 * The Imitater is gray, yet the projectiles it fires are the exact same color as the original projectile.
 * Since the copied plants of the Imitater are not monochrome in the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad versions, the seed packets for the copied plants are different from the PC and Mac version. In the iPod Touch and iPhone version, the seed packets are shaded by a green square. In the iPad, the seed packet is shaded by a yellow square.
 * The Imitater is the only non-upgrade plant that is bought from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, excluding the Zen Garden plants.
 * Besides the Flower Pot, the Imitater is the only non-upgrade plant that cannot be obtained for the Zen Garden.
 * The Imitater's transforming animation is not shown on the DS version. Instead, the Imitater when planted stands for a while, then spin quickly once and turn into the imitated plant with soil under it and a planting sound.Imitater_photo.jpg]]
 * The Imitater is one of two potatoes in the game, the other being the Potato Mine.
 * When the Imitater has copied a plant, the copied plant is in full health, even if the Imitater has been damaged.
 * The Imitater forms are not completely grayscale, it just became whiter so a little color can still be seen.
 * On the XBLA version, in Co-op Mode, the game will not let you pick the Imitater when there are already three seeds or more selected. A simple fix to this bug is to select the Imitater before you select more than two seeds.
 * The Imitater's Seed Packets says "Bloom and Doom" Instead of the full "Bloom and Doom Seed Co.".
 * It is the only non-aquatic plant that can go in water without a Lily Pad or go on the roof without a Flower Pot.
 * The Imitater's eyes look exactly like zombie's eyes.
 * If a Imitated plant gets squashed by a Zomboni, Catapult Zombie, or a Gargantuar, the squashed Imitated plant will be in color.
 * When an Imitater Chomper eats a zombie, the zombie's arm turns black and white.
 * In the iPad version, if you choose the original plant first, then open the Imitater overlay, the seed packet will darken as if it were not recommended for the level.
 * The Imitater is the only plant that can be planted on any environment: directly on the roof, in a Flower Pot, directly in the pool, on a grave, on a Lily Pad, on the ground and on another plant (Imitater Pumpkin and Coffee Bean).
 * When the Imitater is spinning, you can see eyebrows on his face. However, in the iPad version, it always has eyebrows.
 * While spinning, the Imitater looks like he has a lot of arms on his back.
 * The Imitater is the plant equivalent for Presto, a character in Insaniquarium, a game also made by PopCap. Just like the Imitater, Presto can turn into any kind of pet.
 * The Imitater is probably French as it wears a French hat.
 * The Imitater is the only non-upgrade plant that is not obtained on a level.
 * When the Imitater is spawning smoke and gets finished eaten, the smoke will not disappear when it has been eaten but disappears at the same rate as the smoke of a non-eaten Imitater.
 * It is the only known Plant that battled Zombies before the events of the game.
 * It is strange that the Imitater can imitate plants with more than one head.
 * It is possible that the Imitater just mimics a plant as he resembles a mime.
 * In an update to the Android version of the game, the Imitater's seed packet changed color when in the seed selection screen to gray, but in-game, it is still green and imitated plants are still full-colored.
 * The Imitater is one of three plants in the game that make a reference to another plant in their Suburban Almanac description with the others being Tall-nut and Fume-shroom.
 * Despite using the same seed packet background as the upgrade plants, the Imitater is not an upgrade plant.
 * The Imitater is the most expensive plant in Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies.
 * It is the only plant that is not an upgrade plant in Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies.
 * The Imitater acts like the Pokémon Ditto: he transforms into other plants while Ditto will transform into other Pokemon.
 * In the DS version, the Imitater does not have eyebrows: he spins so quick you can't see them unless you hack the game.
 * Imitater catapult plants will have gray colored projectiles, but when they are in mid-air they will turn to its normal color.
 * Technically, the Imitater is the only plant that can heal itself (excluding Wall-nuts, Tall-nuts, and Pumpkins with Wall-nut First Aid.)
 * The Grave Buster is the only grey plant in the game that can be imitated.
 * This is the only plant that can spin.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

 * Imitater does not have the choosing plant screen. Instead, it becomes the previous plant that the player chooses when they tap it.
 * For that reason, Imitater cannot be put on the first slot if the player does not remove the previous plant.
 * Imitated plants keep the same color, not gray.
 * The almanac entry calls it "Imitator" instead of "Imitater" once.
 * The Imitater spins (and transforms) faster.
 * In the Almanac and the seed selection (before choosing a plant to imitate) it will say the Imitater costs nothing.
 * This may be because it can be the cost of any plant.
 * It would be true if the imitated plant was an Iceberg Lettuce or a Grave Buster.
 * Imitater is currently the only plant without a costume.
 * This is because it will imitate the costume of the plant chosen by the player.