User blog comment:RoyalGuard-Elite/Asauchi/@comment-6189154-20130209103018

... All I know is that those things look bloody creepy. I mean.. mouths for eyes? Really? Joking aside though, I'd imagine the royal guardsman responsible for their creation is capable of allowing them to outwardly manifest. Or more precisely, it's likely his palace provides them some sort of special quality in which they're able to manifest themselves. Then again, maybe zanpakuto are their own individual entities until they've become attached to a shinigami. Were that the case, these might be quite well physical. Physical in terms of soul physics anyway.