YES! I may be able to make the first tourney after all if Ryan gives me and a friend a ride. And also, yeah I know Nana has her own health bar, and I also know that when Nana's KO'd, the usual array of attacks expected from the ICs aren't useable, but in my experience, it's better to have a Marth F-smash Nana and WD into a D-smash with Popo then get hit and fly off. It's not like I'm alwaying using Nana as my punching bag, I just think it's smarter to have her be take vanguard than Popo.
Like most of my other characters, my ICs are really offensive. The only time I play defensively is when I want to bait my opponents into attacking Nana so I can go in and start a chainthrow or desynched smashes or whatever. I'm not as used to their aerial movements as I am with my Capt, but I can play around with them pretty well.