Thanks for the awesome feedback!
One thing about the barriers, is that they are actually programmed to NOT appear when the jar is mid flight. However, they can spawn 1 or 2 frames before you you throw and since they take a second to fade in it does look like they are spawning mid throw when they shouldn't.
It is still unfair of course lol. But i just thought i should note that. If I were to do this again I'd have the barriers slide into new positions instead of spawning and de-spawning. That way you would be able to see where they are going and wouldn't have to worry about cheap spawns.