I'd ask if anyone else had one of those lives, but that would be rhetorical.
Sorry about the delay, but RL mugged me. On the one hand being busy at work means the company's doing well, on the other...lack of enthusiasm.
It doesn't help that Rob's above post and the Q&A thread have been teasing my muse. Did you HAVE to do that Rob? I barely get any time with them as it is lately.
OK, now for the nitty-gritty:
Rob, in what spare processing I've had I've been considering Natsuko's little addition to the story. I'm sorry, but no it doesn't work. I wanted it to work, but it boiled down to the following:
A) I tried to do my usual research on things like this, but my search-fu was not strong. As such I can't do justice to both the character and the gizmo.
B) Pondering this has led me to firm up one of the rules I'm using to try and keep this balanced. In essence, the Op-For gets equipment, the challenger gets prizes. By equipment, I mean anything from source that could be given to each member of full 20-man Team. I HAVE read rumours that in one of the Cutey Honey series, the Japanese government tried to produce Honey-class androids. As I've not been able to verify this, I can't allow it for the Op-For.
C) Even if I did let Natsuko have it anyway (and I'm still seriously tempted), my understanding of how it works means it would actually DEGRADE her effectiveness. AFAIK, it involves the equivalent of loading skillsets and transmuting clothing to match. Although I don't know where Biker Honey gets her bike, or Gunbunny Honey gets her guns (not that Natsuko has a problem with that AFAICT), if they were created during the transformation sequence Honey's systems would need highly detailed scans and metallurgical info to construct them. Probably preloaded to speed things up, but I can easily see simple objects being constructed ad-hoc (apparently in one of the manga, she uses her systems to create a fake boulder around her friend to hide her).
As to the next scene, I'm jittering over whether or not it needs spoiler-blocking over something that happens in it.
Sorry about the delay, but RL mugged me. On the one hand being busy at work means the company's doing well, on the other...lack of enthusiasm.
It doesn't help that Rob's above post and the Q&A thread have been teasing my muse. Did you HAVE to do that Rob? I barely get any time with them as it is lately.
OK, now for the nitty-gritty:
Rob, in what spare processing I've had I've been considering Natsuko's little addition to the story. I'm sorry, but no it doesn't work. I wanted it to work, but it boiled down to the following:
A) I tried to do my usual research on things like this, but my search-fu was not strong. As such I can't do justice to both the character and the gizmo.
B) Pondering this has led me to firm up one of the rules I'm using to try and keep this balanced. In essence, the Op-For gets equipment, the challenger gets prizes. By equipment, I mean anything from source that could be given to each member of full 20-man Team. I HAVE read rumours that in one of the Cutey Honey series, the Japanese government tried to produce Honey-class androids. As I've not been able to verify this, I can't allow it for the Op-For.
C) Even if I did let Natsuko have it anyway (and I'm still seriously tempted), my understanding of how it works means it would actually DEGRADE her effectiveness. AFAIK, it involves the equivalent of loading skillsets and transmuting clothing to match. Although I don't know where Biker Honey gets her bike, or Gunbunny Honey gets her guns (not that Natsuko has a problem with that AFAICT), if they were created during the transformation sequence Honey's systems would need highly detailed scans and metallurgical info to construct them. Probably preloaded to speed things up, but I can easily see simple objects being constructed ad-hoc (apparently in one of the manga, she uses her systems to create a fake boulder around her friend to hide her).
As to the next scene, I'm jittering over whether or not it needs spoiler-blocking over something that happens in it.