User blog comment:Kartik "k2"/Comparision between regular shinigami/Hollow and Vizards/Arrancars/@comment-493809-20140918152916/@comment-493809-20140918223142

The lieutenants didn't do much to Harribel other than distract her, true, but she didn't go down until Aizen hit her, and he always gets his Sneak Attack bonus. On top of which, she's still alive, so she's certainly a strong one.

As for Uryu, his role in the future depends on what the Epithet of A actually conveys. If it stands for something like Almighty or Alpha, what would it actually mean? Will it be the ability to do as Yhwach does - share his soul and absorb those he blessed when they die?

Back to the shark battle - I have a lot of problems with the idea of regular Hollows becoming Arrancar. Grand Fisher is usually an example of a normal hollow getting unmasked, but his ability to hunt and intelligence kind of make me think more of an Adjuchas. To my knowledge he wasn't, but it bothers me that a) a regular Hollow would be turned into an Arrancar and b) there weren't more shown at any point. If GF was, in fact, a regular hollow turned into an Arrancar, he would be the only one in the series (not sure about filler/Blood War arc). From my perspective, the Hammerhead was at least Adjuchas, and the Arrancar upgrade would have been sufficient to let him endanger Harribel.

Re: Spiritual Pressure acting as a shield - it's hard to tell at times, since the Shinigami and Hollows both have otherwise anatomically correct bodies (here referencing internal organs and such). If they were simply masses of energy taking on humanoid forms for the sake of convenience, it would be a simple numbers game. But since there's a physical aspect to them, being shielded doesn't mean you're safe. Kenpachi could cut Nnoitra relatively easily, after all. Different materials have different weaknesses, and against the Quincy, emitting a lot of spiritual power may end up screwing you over.