Board Thread:New on Bleach Wiki/@comment-27120311-20151025235010/@comment-26475399-20160106150347

DarkMuse616 wrote: Just because his hollow and zanpakuto powers came from the same being it doesn't mean that the powers worked as one. Notice how his inner hollow/zanpakuto never had a hollow form until after he embraced that power unconsciously in the fight with Ulquiorra, I think it shows that his inner spirit had powers/nature of both but could only develop one at a time based on what Ichigo was willing to embrace.

That's actually a good way to look at it, that he developed one at a time and that they didn't initially work as one but were more haphazard in each respective nature.

Though, i will point out that Ichigo did possess a Hollow form during Visored training. Now i'm not sure exactly, just kinda speculating here, but i believe what happened during the fight with Ulquiorra was Hollow Ichigo's true form being revealed. What i theorize is that, Hollow Ichigo, who is technically White (the true form), in the fusion into Ichio's inner world as the Zanpakuto spirit, took on a more humanoid form as a Zanpakuto spirit, and he manifested as an Ichigo doppelganger, simply just because Ichigo was his host, and Ichigo's appearance just sorta melded and coincided; maybe as a symbol to the fact that he was the true Zanpakuto, as well. (Subpar hypothesis, but i haven't really expanded on it, hahah.)

This is a pretty good theory I think as to why he had arrancar like powers after fusing with that spirit and old man Zangetsu as he finally embraced all sides of that inner spirit's power, even the hollow part, and shows why he probably doesn't have the mask because it serves no purpose anymore (further evidence is shown in the fullbringer arc if you look carefully and notice that Ichigo hasn't just gotten his powers back but seems much stronger than he was before in a way I don't think fusing with the remnants of his fullbring can explain).

Oh yeah, definitely a huge spike in power after reawakening his powers. Due to, i personally believe (in accordance to my own theory, and i mentioned this above), absorbing the powers of Tensa Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo for the FGT. That spike in power, though not as great, was what had been carried over in part from the state Ichigo was in upon completion of FGT training. BA and OP Ichigo. ;D

As for the inner hollow zanpakuto not having manifested since FGT, didn't it manifest when Ichigo tamed an asauchi and even take its form, mask and all?

You made a mention to this factor on my other thread, and i addressed it there. :) I'll address it here, too... but not as detailed (for the sake of the length this comment has already reached, lol). :P

I don't really suggest that they are "dead" or fully gone, just that they as manifestations have left in the act of giving all their powers to Ichigo. In theory, it's their individual and respective personalities (tied with the manifestations) that went away; their essence and powers did not. The Asauchi, i think, was the new manifestation of Hollow Ichigo, indicating his still-existing presence. It was just that his essence remaining in Ichigo was now embodied through that Asauchi.