Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-9732657-20130519011726/@comment-8986886-20130621165313

Omniguy183 wrote: No Arrancar's tear off their masks to gain shinigami powers and the hogyoku is how Aizen created his Arrancar's. The Hogyoku was not involved in white and as such his isn't an Arrancar. Also,arrancar's already existed and if Kaname meant becoming an Arrancar he would have said it.

Tearing off the mask is just a means to an end; to access the combined powers of both Shinigami and Hollows. This was partially achieved with White, however the inner conflict between the Shinigami soul and the Hollow resulted in Soul Suicide. Hollows do not self-destruct like that.

You might argue that Arrancar seal their powers into a Zanpakutou, but Starrk sealed his power into Lilynette, another Arrancar.

"Its physical appearance is somehow still that of a hollow, but it feels like I'm fighting a Shinigami."... "That's not a Hollow; that's not how a Menos fights." -Isshin's thoughts while fighting White.

After the death of White, Kaname pointed out and Aizen agreed, that their objective up to that point had been to Hollowficate Shinigami. So when did Aizen use the Hogyoku to create these Arrancar you're referring to?