Shrinking Violet

Shrinking Violet is a single-use premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It was first revealed in teaser Piñata Parties for Modern Day Part 1 as its associated premium plant. As of the Valenbrainz 2017 update, it costs 89 gems. As of the Luck O' the Zombies 2017 update, it costs 100 gems. It is unknown whether it will return to its original price.

Shrinking Violet has the ability to shrink zombies in a 3x3 area around it, which in itself has unique effects depending on what type of zombie was shrunk: namely, removing certain abilities and shrinking Imps and other small zombies (like Zombie Chickens) into oblivion. For a detailed list of effects, see its Overview section below.

Origins
Shrinking Violet is based on the Viola, a genus of flowering plants mostly found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The term shrinking violet  describes a shy person, and Shrinking Violet is shy according to its Almanac entry, an aspect shown visibly as it hides in its petals and occasionally peeks from them during its idle animation.

Overview
As mentioned before, Shrinking Violet's minimizing ability has different results depending on the zombie it is being used on: First and foremost, all Imp variants including Bug Bot Imps, Imp Porters, Super-Fan Imps, Zombie Parrots, Zombie Chickens, Ice Weasels, and Seagull Zombies will be instantly killed (however, in the case of Seagull Zombies, only the seagulls that makes Seagull Zombies fly shrink into oblivion; consequently, the Seagull Zombie will perish immediately after) and they also cannot be spawned by shrunken enemies. Most other zombies, however, will have their size drastically reduced, their damage intake doubled and their attack strength halved. The decreased size also comes with a smaller hitbox, and will allow the zombies to evade certain attacks such as a part of Repeater's Plant Food effect, and all of Bowling Bulb's attacks. Certain attacks that can instantly crush plants are exempted from this rule, such as Gargantuar's smash and Surfer Zombie's surfboard. The entire stunning animation takes two seconds, during which the targeted zombies are immobilized.

Unique effects can be observed in some situations. Shrunken enemies cannot be picked up by pterodactyls in Jurassic Marsh but can otherwise be interacted with other dinosaurs. Barrel Roller Zombies, Troglobites and Arcade Zombies can no longer push their barrels, frozen blocks and arcade machines, respectively. Imp Cannon and Zombie King are also immune to Shrinking Violet, probably due to their immobile nature. MC Zom-B can no longer hit plants in lanes above and below it. Finally, all minimized zombies can be thrown away with Power Toss, including Gargantuars which would otherwise have resistance to it.

It is important to note that lawn obstacles (such as tombstones or surfboards) are not counted as zombies and therefore cannot be shrunken.

Shrinking Violet is an excellent choice in Endless Zones due to its relatively fast recharge for its effect, its large area of effect, and its great Plant Food effect. Shrinking Violet can be combined with Tile Turnip and other plants whose Plant Food effects cover a large area, such as Winter Melon, Strawburst, and Shadow-shroom. A boosted Shrinking Violet can also help.

Plant Food effect
When fed Plant Food, Shrinking Violet increases in size and shrinks all zombies in play, including those off-screen. It then turns back to its regular size.

Costumed
Zombies will get shrunk smaller than the normal Plant Food effect.

Strategies
Shrinking Violet shares its role with a few other plants such as Stallia and Stunion as an instant plant designed for suppressing the incoming enemies, rather than killing them outright. However, Shrinking Violet is still relatively unique when compared to its colleagues, as while stunning and slowing are only temporarily, the shrinking effect can permanently cripple the target by cutting down its health and damage capability. This, combined with the short recharge time and general ease of use makes Shrinking Violet an incredibly useful plant in the game - a Shrinking Violet combined with Imitater can effectively double, or when combined with slowing plants, quadruple the offensive potential of all other offensive plants on the field.

Shrinking Violet's utility is further extended by its more unique effects against certain foes. In the Wild West and Frostbite Caves, Shrinking Violet can be used against Chicken Wrangler Zombies and Weasel Hoarders to prevent them from releasing Zombie Chickens and Ice Weasels. Shrinking Violet can also be used to block Troglobites and Arcade Zombies from pushing blocks, greatly reduce the effectiveness of MC Zom-Bs and prevent pterodactyls from deploying zombies on the back of the field in Jurassic Marsh. Last but not least, Shrinking Violet can be used as a quick solution for early level Imps, as well as preventing Gargantuars and Zombie Bulls from throwing them deep into the player's defense.

It is a poor idea to use this plant in levels where the player cannot lose plants, as the Shrinking Violet will disappear after being activated. It is also a bad idea to use this on Imp Cannons and Zombie Kings, as these zombies are immune to this effect. With Shovel Boost, the player can shovel Shrinking Violet up while the shrinking animation is still playing to be refunded some sun.

Also don't plant Shrinking Violet at the rightmost column to shrink Pianist Zombie, because sometimes Shrinking Violet will be killed before it can shrink the zombie.

Shrinking Violet along with other plants can make a devastating combination with Tile Turnip. Planting Tile Turnips underneath a Shrinking Violet and several Winter Melons can, in most cases, empty out the zombie horde. First, feed Plant Food to Shrinking Violet. As the zombies are shrunken, a deadly melon rain falls, dealing huge damage, and in most cases, can kill even very dense groups of Gargantuars due to them taking double damage.

It is not recommended to use Shrinking Violet in fast-paced levels such as Neon Mixtape Tour - Day 5. This is because there's a hidden mechanic in the game in which if the zombies are damaged enough, it will immediately start the next wave of zombies, regardless of how their health is reduced. Instead, use Stallia as it won't hurt zombies.

In the Chinese version, only at level 3 or 4 will the effects of Shrinking Violet from the international version be replicated. At level 1, Gargantuars are unaffected while at level 2, all shrunken zombies still take and deal the damage they normally would have taken at full size.

Trivia

 * All shrunken zombies' sound will be faster and higher pitched. As such, Pianist Zombie's music and Boombox Zombie's ballad jam will also play faster and at a higher pitch.
 * If it is fed Plant Food, and Thyme Warp is used on the shrunken zombies, the game will crash.
 * This has been fixed in the 4.5 update.
 * After it shrinks a Zombie Bull, the laughing sound of the Zombie Bull Rider can still be heard.
 * In the 4.3 update, zombies took five seconds to be shrunken and did not suffer from reduced damage.
 * The Imps in the Modern Day Part 1 trailer do not shrink into oblivion, instead shrinking into a smaller size like most zombies.
 * This also happens with the Imps controlling the Disco-tron 3000 and Gargantuar Prime.
 * It is the third money premium plant that can be used in a Zomboss battle. The first is the Pea-nut and the second is the Cactus.
 * If it is used on a Dodo Rider Zombie, the Imp rider will shrink into oblivion, only leaving the dodo left.
 * This is the only way to see the dodo without the Imp riding it.
 * The fact that this plant is released during Modern Day may be a reference to Big Trouble Little Zombie.
 * Certain straight-shooting projectiles will miss shrunken zombies in Big Wave Beach in the water due to lower elevation. This includes most peashooting plants (lower peas on Pea-nut are unaffected, for example), Bloomerang, Coconut Cannon, Bowling Bulb (aquamarine and bouncing bulbs are unaffected), and Guacodile. Other plants, such as Red Stinger, Starfruit, Rotobaga, Laser Bean, Fume-shroom, and Citron can still hit zombies as usual.
 * The player can still refund some sun by shoveling it up after it shrinks the zombies down before it completely disappears.
 * Its price has changed three times:
 * Its original price upon introduction was USD $4.99.
 * With the 5.8.1 Valenbrainz 2017 update, its price was changed to 89 gems.
 * With the 5.9.1 Luck O' the Zombies / Springening 2017 update, its price was changed to 100 gems.
 * It can sometimes be killed by Pianist Zombie, similar to Stallia.
 * It would also be killed by one of the Zombot Sharktronic Sub's zombie sharks.
 * It is immune to Zombot Sharktronic Sub because when the plant was programmed to shrink this boss, the fight will become easier.

Specific to Chinese version

 * Its seed packet is different than the international version.
 * In the international version, only the head is shown, while in the Chinese version, the whole body is shown.