Dragon Eggplant

Dragon Eggplant is a plant that appears in . It is unlocked via purchase for $20,000 at after beating , and is the 50th plant in the .
Dragon Eggplant is defenseless when planted, needing 30 seconds to hatch into a Chomper Child, an offensive short-ranged attacker that will turn into a Chomper after 20 seconds. However, if Dragon Eggplant is eaten before the initial 20 seconds, it will roll down the lane it is planted on, doing moderate damage to all zombies there. 
==Origin==
Dragon Eggplant is based on an egg, an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the animal hatches.
Its name is a portmanteau of the words "egg", the organism which it is based on, and "eggplant", a purple plant species. However, the eggplant part is merely used in the name. The plant that hatches from the egg is a , which is supposed to be a flytrap and dragon mix.
The egg itself closely resembles one from the game Dragon City, which will hatch into a small dragon that can be leveled up to reach its adult stage, much like how Dragon Egg works in-game.
==About==
Dragon Eggplant is a stationary and inoffensive plant for the 20 seconds during which it stays on the field. However, it can do meaningful damage to zombies in its lane if it happens to be eaten, working as a weaker , doing damage similar to that of in its lane when defeated.
If Dragon Eggplant is not eaten during its lifetime, it will hatch into a Chomper Child. This new plant will live for 30 seconds as a fast-attacking ranged plant, doing extremely weak damage (6.67 dps) but with a cadence of 0.4 seconds. Chomper Child's range is only one tile long, identical to 's, but its attacks do splash damage to all zombies in that tile.
==Almanac entry==
<tabber>
|-|Dragon Eggplant=
|-|Chomper Child=
</tabber>
==Strategies==
Dragon Eggplant is an extremely versatile tool with multiple functions at its disposal. Think of it as a kind of plant. In its first stage, Dragon Eggplant can be seen as useless or irrelevant given its lack of damage output or defensive prowess, but a different outlook needs to be used to comprehend its true strengths. While in a pinch, Dragon Eggplant can serve as an instant use plant with decent damage and even a bit of a staller. Unlike , , and plants of the sort, Dragon Eggplant has some health and thus can hold zombies for a few seconds before performing her ability when destroyed. In a situation when no other instant use plants are available, Dragon Eggplant can be used as a last resort option to damage zombies for a relatively affordable price.
That's not the only use that Dragon Eggplant can have though, as it will turn into a Chomper Child after 20 seconds have passed. Chomper Child itself offers a lot of value for the 75 sun that is required to plant Dragon Eggplant. She is an attacker with one of the best cadences in the whole game, and while her damage is the weakest in the game, her damage per second is very respectable. The fast attacking speed of Chomper Child is not the only tool she has at her disposal. Her attacks do a tile-wide splash in a similar fashion to 's fire peas, making her not vulnerable to huge crowds unlike . 
Everything that Chomper Child offers is extremely valuable for 75 Sun and a 20 second hatching time, so she comes with the drawback of turning into a less fancied Chomper after 30 seconds have passed. This is not a terrible outcome by any means. Getting a Chomper on top of Chomper Child's abilities is still great, especially coming from an absurdly cheap package with no more than a minute long wait, but it is undeniable that Chomper Child is more favorable as an attacker in most instances. As such, there's a lot of strategizing needed to make the most out of each stage of the pack.
Dragon Eggplant should be planted in the right part of the lawn, so when it hatches into Chomper Child, she can reach approaching zombies with ease. You can protect it with a defensive plant during the initial 20 seconds, and later on it can make it easier to keep zombies in place so all of them can be damaged by Chomper Child. Once the second stage is over, try to make the most out of Chomper before it gets overwhelmed due to her unimpressive stats, but don't let Chomper be your main focus. Chomper Child is a much easier plant to get worthwhile value from, so your resources should go towards defending her before her time is up.
==Related achievements==
==Balance changes==
===Revision #1===
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*
===Revision #2===
*
*
==Gallery==
Dragon Egg HD.png|HD Dragon Egg
Dragon Egg Packet.png|Dragon Egg's Seed Packet
==Trivia==
*It is the only plant in Plants vs. Zombies to not have a streamlined recharge value. Instead of the typical 7/20/50 seconds, Dragon Eggplant's recharge is of 12 seconds.