You do realize that the foam/plate combination in the Vaporfly is a literal spring system, yes? Or did you buy into the marketing mis-info that says the plate is only to ‘stabilize’ the foam?
Take the plate out of a Vaporfly or Alphafly and tell me how well you run.
Exactly, the curved plate in combination with the foam makes the shoe springier than a shoe with just the foam.
Do you have a particular athlete in mind that is, what you term, a high ‘shoe-responder’? I think Kierra D’Amatto is, the reason being her heavy mid-foot loading stance before her strong pronation move. (Note, when you said “excessive pronation, I interpreted that to mean the common term “over pronation.)
A strong mid stance flattens the curved plate, consequently storing strain-energy in it and the surrounding foam. Some of that strain-energy gets returned when the plate returns to its neutral position at liftoff.
Likewise, strong toe-off stores strain-energy in the spoon-shaped forefoot of the plate.
In addition, the dynamic spring-rate of the shoe may happen to optimally tune around her body-weight, cadence, and stride mechanics.
Do you know the definition of ‘pronation’? “Massive pronation” is NOT an absolute requirement for a cheater-shoe to work. Indeed, cheater-shoe manufacturers would probably prefer more stability and less resulting pronation in their shoes.
I think the pronation idea is ridiculous: it's precisely the opposite. The carbon plated shoes, especially the Nike's, are designed for forefoot striking that rolls off to the outside edge of the shoes as you push off. There are no elite marathoners that I know of that are even remotely close to being pronators.
That's likely the two reasons why there are "non-responders": those unable to become forefoot strikers and also with smooth supination roll-off to the outer edge of the shoe. If your footfall and roll doesn't include both of these, you are simply not getting the full benefit of the shoes. Nike and all the brands with carbon shoes are afraid to state the obvious because of impact on sales. You really have no business wearing carbon shoes if you're a heel striker or pronator.
No, they will be angled downwards like a ski slope so as to make you lean forward and have a forefoot strike, thus eliminating the braking effect of heel strike. Indeed, there will be no heel. The part of the sole that can conceivably reach the ground will begin at the midfoot. This will be the 9%.
Seriously, though, this guy notes that the shorter the shoes, the steeper the drop from back to front (that is, the sharper the angle the foot itself is in, pointing downwards with a high stack height in back and low in front). So, that would predict, I think, that there would be a greater advantage of the cheater shoes to women than men and a greater advantage to shorter men, with shorter feet, than taller men, with longer feet.