Answering by edited paragraph blocks:
1. Your example is somewhat questionable. What exactly makes her think she will be in severe danger through the first go-around of death or dismemberment?
She's spent the last year with people sabotaging her every effort to get ahead and live a normal life. Now, she's gaming the system to get a year's worth of rewards in one week. If anyone was
ever inclined to sabotage another contestant (note the word 'contestant': that brings to mind people
competing against each other) she would be a prime target.
This is closer to "You get the full capabilities of a Planetary Annihilation Commander if you agree to getting tickled in the nude for several hours. You get the capabilities of a single Dox if you insist on padding during the tickling." To which Taylor picks the padding because of neuroses, which is reasonable for this run.
As I'm sure you know, "reasonable under the circumstances" does not keep a character from being a laughingstock due to stupidity. Despite that issue, "reasonable" generally remains tolerable as reasoning UNLESS the character never manages to learn from mistakes.
Being tickled in the nude for several hours is actually a punishment, but the points she'd get for it aren't that great.
She's spending points to get things that will assist her in
getting through the first week, instead of just assuming that her powers will be enough to pass as the sidekick for a Magical Girl. As opposed to, say, a hoverboard as well as training in Krav Maga and parkour (in case she loses the hoverboard).
Also, as noted, a hoverboard is useful in other situations.
2. The description says "a power from your world" which, of course, is the only reason (as edale suggested and you agreed) that Taylor isn't demanding the powers list up-front after she's been cheated by SL once already.
Also there's a reason I (IIRC) said something about looking forward to your reveals.
So if Taylor knows she can copy a cape's power, and is a fan of Alexandria, under what reasoning would she not pick an Alexandria-type power... well, I look forward to seeing you reason your way out of that problem (unless it's "isn't right" mental disability causing her to pick weak, crappy powers instead of choosing to copy powerful capes).
For one thing, as I noted, the Alexandria Package is
three powers (four if you count 'not really ageing any more).
Alexandria can't save the world with the powers she has. What makes you think Taylor could?
3. "LALALA I CAN'T (ore pretend I can't) HEAR YOU OVER THE WIND WHEEEEE!" is one way to ignore paparazzi.
Another way is to have them only be able to see the outside of a cloud of bugs flying along (if you are going slow enough).
I'm assuming a hoverboard is about as fast as a motorcycle. And paparazzi can be an actual hazard (ask Princess Diana), especially if someone was out to sabotage her in the show.
4. Outdoor Garden is part of Shared Amenities. Does Taylor really think that in MAXIMUM eight hours operational radius with a hoverboard she can travel away far enough to cross to other biomes and collect particularly notable insects she can't find within her radius of amenities, jobs, punishments, etc. (which is basically a city and surroundings)?
A lot more than she could find in the garden, sure.
Assuming a flight speed of 40 mph, that gives her a radius of 320 miles. If she did a big circle (so as not to cover the same ground twice) she could still get as far as 160 miles away from her starting point. Picking the middle of LA as a starting location, she could reach Nevada or Arizona with ease, and maybe even hit Utah.
If she can't find the bugs she wants in that radius, there's something wrong.
If Taylor was a SpaceBattler she'd totally pick Perfected Ziz if she could. We aren't here to game her like that YET, merely explore things that she should be sensible enough for.
And what if Ziz wasn't a power, but a mechanism?
Alternately, even if Ziz
was a 'power' that could be emulated, you'd have to pick each power
separately.
Flight
Telekinesis (Macro)
Telekinesis (Nano)
Precognition
Postcognition
Copy Tinker Ability
Durability
You have three powers, one perfected. Which ones do you drop, and which one do you perfect?
