Konoko's armor

See Konoko's outfits for a list of all her attire in-game, and Konoko's gun for an examination of variations in her weapon.

Here we attempt to reconstruct the stages of evolution which Konoko's armor went through. The "Mark N" terminology is unique to this article. Feel free to adjust, expand or redefine.

Mark Zero

Early (earliest?) game model of Konoko

Barely "armored" or TCTF-affiliated at all, the 3D model shown on the right still looks like Bungie's first attempt at a "uniform" that Konoko would wear in battle.

Concept art of this design can be seen near the end of the 1998 trailer of Oni, as it flashes by at about 1:44-1:45 (huge thanks to Paradox-01 for the reconstruction effort).

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  Paradox's reconstruction

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  Paradox's imagination

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  geyser's imagination

Despite the coarse detail of the video, as well as some minor discrepancies, this is clearly the same design:

• exposed belly and cleavage (although the concept art's lack of color makes bare-skinned areas hard to identify),
• distinctive riveted "frontpieces" (Y-shaped piece in the pelvic area, horizontal "underbra" below the cleavage),
• "composite" knee pads consisting of three small armor plates (and even smaller plates further to the sides),
• distinctive detail for both the wrist guards and the "hand plates" (between the wrist guard and the knuckles),
• four horizontal straps across the front of the greaves (lying flat for the 3D model, untied in the case of the concept art), and
• a distinctive short-sleeved jacket (with thick shoulder pads), combined with a set of elbow/wrist pads.

However, there are two significant differences between the two renditions:

• the concept art's jacket seems to have some sort of "extension" attached, and
• the lowermost section of the boots is much more detailed in the concept art.

Just as the exposed belly and cleavage (fully in line with the late-1990s trend towards skimpy action heroines), the armor elements or Mark Zero are fairly generic overall, and were replaced with more unique-looking design starting with Mark I.

One feature stands out, though: the jacket. Casually thrown over a skin-tight uniform, it is strongly reminiscent of Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell (a major influence for Oni; no pun intended).

It is interesting how the jacket apparently survived the purge and ended up (with somewhat longer sleeves) in Konoko's in-game wardrobe, as well as in this promo art.

Mark I

Like Mark Zero, this outfit is barely armored or TCTF-affiliated, but it is a clear precursor of the TCTF uniform as we know it.

Midriff

The bare midriff continues on from Mark Zero.

Wrist, collarbone, neck and shoulder guards

These are already the same armor pieces as in Mark II-IV: the orange inlays (a recurrent element of TCTF uniforms) make their appearance here, as well as the "domino" perforation on the wrist guard.

Fingerless glove design

Ever since this iteration, Konoko's gloves have had a distinctive two-color design where the darker color only covers the middle and ring fingers but leaves the index, thumb and pinky "bare". The actual "fingerlessness" is a separate aspect of the gloves: in Mark I and the final versions of the outfit (Mark VI and Mark VII), all the fingers are actually fingerless, whereas for Mark II all the fingers are clothed.

Armored garters

In this version we are already seeing the metal bands that TCTF Konoko wears around her thighs for some reason.

Unlike the other impractical details (straps/belt sticking out sideways, total lack of torso armor, gloves that are fingerless except for the index), the garters will become a persistent feature of Konoko's TCTF outfit, appearing in practically every iteration.

Mark II

This iteration built on Mark I by adding distinctive armor pieces, most importantly in the elbow, knee and ankle areas.

The chest also received some armor, but did not yet crystallize into a "chestpack". Likewise, the "buttpack" was merely a big utility pouch at this point, about as plain-looking as the side pouches.

The boots were inherited from Mark I, except that the straps were dropped (same as for the elbow guard straps and the belt) and replaced with some unique-looking fasteners anchored at the sole.

The gloves were actual gloves in this iteration (not actually fingerless), otherwise quite similar to Mark I (including the somewhat awkward knuckle reinforcements on the index and pinky only).

The pair of elbow plates (one attached to the upper arm, the other to the forearm) was already fairly close to the final design.

Last but not least, the color inset in one of the sketches suggests that Konoko's midsection was covered in this iteration.

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Mark III

Really? Yes, really.

Arguably the skimpiest iteration, on-par with Mark Zero: does not have an exposed cleavage, but indulges in bare buttocks instead!

(As a redeeming factor, an admirable attempt is made to give some meaning to the armored garters – they are actual garters here.)

Oh, and the belly is exposed as well, of course:

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Even so, Mark III appears to have been the single most significant "leap forward" that took Konoko's armor almost all the way to Mark VII.

• In the boot area, the ankle guard extends backwards and forms a distinctive "double heel", with some non-trivial functional purpose;
• The chestpack emerges, along with its companion, the buttpack – in more or less final form, with orange inlays in all the right places;
• The knee pad design is somewhat sidetracked because of the sexy garters, but otherwise starts developing familiar features as well.

Thus, aside from the bare midriff and exposed hips, Konoko's trademark "armored catsuit" is finally coming together...

Mark IV

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  Not such an early model, it would seem (the armor is final, except for the bare midriff).

Featured in the 1998 trailer (as a 3D model), this uniform is practically the same as the final game model (that is, Mark VII), except that the "bare midriff" rears its ugly head flashes its pretty self one last time.

The whole trailer looks like a tribute to Konoko's early versions:

• the metal plates are visible under the eyes, just as surprising to modern Oni players as seeing Konoko run around with a naked belly in an otherwise familiar "Mark VII";
• Mark I, Mark II and even Mark Zero concept art flashes by, as well as THIS piece where Konoko apparently wears nothing besides an armband and a pair of gloves).
• in the first ten seconds or so, a female figure is shown either reclining, suspended or propped up – not clearly identifiable as Konoko (or as a human, for that matter), but rather definitely female and unclothed.

To be completely fair, the trailer is rather fast-paced and the resolution is poor, so it's hard to tell if there are other differences between Mark IV and Mark VII, apart from the naked belly.

Mark V

Used exclusively in the AIC anime intro, this version doesn't seem related to any other armor design and comes across as greatly simplified:

• no elbow guards, "garters" or "buttpack"; apart from the "chestpack", the only armor pieces are the shoulder plates, wristguards and knee pads;
• the chestpack has a very blocky shape, arguably more functional and desexualized than any other iteration; also, it's the only one with a 07 on the back;
• the neckguard is rather thin, and looks more like decoration than a piece of armor; the area around the neckguard is covered in fabric;
• the "collar pieces" are essentially welded to the shoulder plates in this version, and are not perceived as separate armor elements;
• instead of the "butt-pack", there is a wide slanted belt with a couple of pouches; only the belt's buckle seems to be made of metal;
• instead of the "garters", there is a single wide piece of fabric around the right thigh, to which the gun holster is attached;
• there are no separate boots, either, armored or otherwise; it's more like the catsuit itself has heels;

Likely Bungie had to make some concessions to allow for easier drawing and faster production, hence a much simpler design (which would probably look too plain in the game or static art, but fits AIC's drawing style rather well). Possibly this was a concept that Okita had lying around for a while.

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Mark VI

This is the most recurrent armor in promotional art. It is not known if it ever existed in 3D form, or if Okita went more or less directly from the skimpy "Mark Zero" to the nearly final Mark IV.

The distinctive features of Mark VI are:

• square-shaped shoulderguards (with slight variations in shape);
• wristguards with a symmetric shape and without orange inlays;

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Mark VII

Character reference plate for the Mark VII armor iteration (grayscale, unfortunately)

This is the final iteration drawn by Lorraine, referenced in the "How To Draw Konoko?" tutorial (shown on the right).

The distinctive features of this iteration include:

• rounded shoulder pads, with orange inlays on the front and back sides;
• elongated wristguard with an orange inlay at the knuckle end; same six "holes" in the wristguard as for previous iterations.
• no orange color at the wrist of the suit itself (only on the wristguard)
• new color layout for the fingerless gloves.
• different color and armor layout at the elbow and on the upper arm.

Late promotional art (both by Lorraine and by Jacen Burrows) conforms to this template, as well as Alex Okita's designs from the 1998 era.

It is also consistent with Konoko's final in-game appearance (3D model and outro splashscreen for CHAPTER 01 . TRIAL RUN), whereas the main menu background uses Mark VI armor.

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Mark VIII

This is an unofficial iteration by community member Leucha, contributed to the community as a 3D model and turned into this AE mod.

Mark IX

This was made by Russian designer Marat Latypov, in the form of a 3D model, for ArtStation's Retrogasm contest.

Unlike Leucha's model, it is not available for use by the community (author's rules for contest entries).