Alright. I did some more testing of Leaf Shield, Skull Shield, and Plant Barrier. Here are some observations:
#1) The IASA frame is earlier across the board. It is very possible to combo off all three moves now.
#2) May be a placebo, but SB and PB both seem to rotate more quickly now. The upshot is that both moves now seem to combo into themselves and hit twice more frequently when thrown.
#3) PB does not pop people up like LS anymore. (Maybe it never did?) It does straight hitstun, sometimes hitting twice like MB. The upshot here is that if you throw it while falling into someone, you can combo it into a sweet spotted utilt or grab, similar to the Z1GMA Upper, which is freakin' sweet.
#4) SB does not pop people up like LS anymore. (Maybe it never did?) Now it knocks them straight backward; there is no vertical knock back.
#5) LS and SB can't combo into a sweet spotted utilt like PB can, but they can combo into a sour spotted utilt and boost grab.
#6) Can we talk about how LS is better than ever for edgeguarding? The way it pops people up is actually useful for bair, fair, and nair follow ups now. You can toss a LS to hit someone through the stage before they can grab the ledge, popping them up into tumble frames, and then you can follow up by running off stage into a nair to bat them away. So good.