My favorite Upgrade Form stories are the ones that try and tell you what the whole series is about -- Revice Thunder Gale! -- and CycloneJokerXtreme is that quality to death. It's a story where the partnership is tested, and then the resolution is that the partnership doesn't have to ever really achieve anything; the success is in what the partnership already was. Xtreme's arrival is a testament to their bond, not to their power. Such a great debut story for a new suit!

(Also, yeah, Wakana's fine now! The end! HOORAY.)

I mostly remember this two parter for the fact that Zone is essentially a Bakugan Trap in terms of appearance, and I really like non-humanoid monster designs.

As for a general opinion… Xtreme’s pretty cool, right? (I’ve got nothing else to say. Check back next episode)

I'm guessing it was the little glimpse of green on the right leg that tricked you?

Since you brought it up, here's my ranking for Double's forms in the show:

1) CycloneJoker
2) LunaJoker
3) LunaTrigger
4) CycloneJoker Xtreme
5) CycloneMetal
6) CycloneTrigger
7) FangJoker
8) HeatTrigger
9) LunaMetal
10) HeatMetal
11) HeatJoker

Shoutarou is the man with the courage to ride with the devil.

He may not be a genius like Phillip, or hard-boiled like Terui, or even decisive like Akiko, but that courage is all he needs to turn weakness in to strength. That's a quality Shroud doesn't understand and Shoutarou himself doesn't fully appreciate either, but that's the reason why he's the only person who can truly be Double's left half. If Phillip's gotten stronger, it's only cause Shoutarou believed in him. Shoutarou took a gamble on the devil on Begins Night and got a true partner out of it. A leap of faith, just like how he solves cases with his hunches. Now Phillip believes in him with a hunch, so of course the solution to their power imbalance was for Shoutarou to believe in himself as well.

For sure.

It is!

It was actually the shape of the mask -- it's got that Taka shape to it, and I sort of forgot for a second what CycloneJokerXtreme looks like.

Well said! Shotaro's got a strength in his convictions that's unmatched on the show; the problem is that his convictions don't tend to include Betting On Himself, so he's very quick to pack it in when confronted with his failings.

Other than it might being funny, Bitou does have an attitude problem which seems expected from someone imprisoned 10 years, but turns out he just took a fall for someone he's in love with, Suzuko. turned himself in Maruo's place. Sokichi not saying a word to him for that. For once, Shotaro didn't get hit by Bitou due to him being right, albeit Bitou's still gruff about it (him overall after 10 years sentence). Akiko found the bear carving, but Isaka as weather comes along to attack them again. The reason why Bitou always stands up for Suzuko, like Maruo's treatment of pushing him or Makura rejecting her answers.

So he has a gag similar to Akiko's slipper, finger snapping Shotaro between his eyes. Can't ever go right for him, as he got finder snapped for kicking him out for his suspiciousness, taking the case as it involves Sokichi for being a rookie, for mumbling out loud, for questioning the nickname of Bitou's circle, warning Bitou about Maruo. Except when Shotaro deduced that Bitou's in love with Suzuko. Makura also, as usual, got hit by this due to rejecting Suzuko's answer when interrogating.

Demonstrated in the power surge of the Cyclone Memory? The trouble is more prevalent in the battle as the power surge on the right (Cyclone) side made W's power imbalanced, hindering their battle. Philip warns that Joker isn't powerful enough to be paired with Cyclone, but W tries Metal and it still fails to stop the imbalance. W de-henshins, but something strange happens to Phillip as he wakes up, but in an empty Gaia Library with W, but having a band of light down the middle of his body approaching, before he wakes up properly. Shotaro thinks Phillip only needs to tone Cyclone down, kinda dismissing the warning. Even trying FangJoker to get around the power surge, it still failed.

Because he's EXTREEEEEEEMMMMMEEEEE :lolol
Really though, Cyclone Joker Extreme is a nice design. I love how they went Kikaider 00 with it while maintaining the key design elements.

Oh dear sweet Shadow Moon what have you done? MY EEEAAARRRSS. :lolol

Why? Why would you do this?

The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.