User blog comment:Godisme/The Buckbeard/@comment-4916544-20120311083839

Heres what i think, the vandenreich are quincys who have died. Ivan is a quicy who became a hollow, then removed his mask, and the leader is a quincy who has died. So maybe they are sort of like shinigami/quincy hybrids, or quincy/arrancar hybrids. Arrancars usually have strange looking releases, like ivans cannon-thing. and that spear-cross could have been the vandenreich members quincy bow/shikai or bankai (probly shikai) which would explain the statement that they can use bankai.