I feel like Cody's vt2 is way better in a vacuum than 1, but 1 is way more practical. Vt2 is a beast when things work out, but they don't always work out and getting value out of it in some MUs is hard.. where-as vt1 is less flashy and shenanigan-y, its more consistent in value returned..
But Rushdown talking about methods to reflect and get in vs Guile makes wonder if over time, Cody players far better than myself will find ways to maximize it's potential. I'll almost always use it regardless just because it's more interesting/fun to me.
I really feel like, after more time with Cody that he's quite good but without slightly better all around walk speed and possibly some projectile armor/immunity/something built in to ex zonk, he's going to fall short of being great. That said, I'm not going to pretend I can predict the over-all balance effect vs some characters if ex.Zonk did have projectile immunity.. but it all depends on when the invuln activates, f1 or later, etc.
Oh and also, fuck ex.zonk losing to literally anything it encounters. Having to sacrifice two punch buttons for a handful of frames, and a bar, should at least buy me priority over Ls and Ms..Jeebus.