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Intro
I’m going to discuss whether the Hollow Mask should be a 5x multiplier to all stats or not.Evidence
In the databook Masked, it’s stated three separate times that the Hollow mask is an immense amp to your spiritual power/combat ability/power. In the databook Unmasked, it’s stated that the Hollow Mask is a dramatic/exponential increase to one’s power. In the manga, Tosen claims that the Hollow Mask grants one power beyond that offered by Bankai.From the databooks, it’s obvious that the Hollow Mask is this massive amp to all of your stats (as your spiritual power is reflective of all of your stats). However, they don’t provide any quantifiable statement as to how exponential that increase is directly. That’s where Tosen comes in, he claims that Hollowfication (aka donning a Hollow Mask) is far greater of an amp than that of which can be offered by a “mere Bankai”.
Everyone is aware of the Bankai multiplier, the 5-10x combat ability amp, which on site we treat as an “at least 5x” amp. However, recently we’ve moved away from the Bankai multiplier’s 5x combat ability amp equating to 5x all stats if it shows it. We now treat the Bankai amp as only a multiplier if it is stated to boost a single stat, and we take that single stat to be 5x (i.e. Ikakku’s Bankai does nothing but amp his destructive energy is a 5x AP amp, or Ichigo’s Bankai channels all the Bankai power into speed as a 5x speed amp). Although, the perceptive among you will realize that (following my verse wide statistics revisions), Tensa Zangetsu is treated as a 2x AP/dura amp and a 5x speed amp (the reason being that Ichigo could match Byakuya’s Senkai which is a 2x power amp). The accepted explanation for this being that Ichigo’s Bankai statement says that by condensing his blade and channeling all the Bankai power into speed, Ichigo can always fight at maximum power. Meaning that, for Ichigo, by increasing his speed 5x, he is able to fight with slightly more power than usual.
I mentioned all of that, and explained those Bankai amps to make the next point more tangible. Tosen is and should be aware of Ichigo’s Tensa Zangetsu and Ikakku’s Bankai. Given that he’s either A) seen them or B) would know about them from the Arrancar battle records. Yet knowing all of that, Tosen still refers to them as fodder in comparison to the Hollow Mask amp. To that extent I do believe that the Hollow Mask being an at least Bankai level amp to all of your stats is very consistent. Before someone mentions “but Tosen’s Bankai doesn’t amp stats”, Tosen isn’t talking about his Bankai, he is making a generalized comparison between Hollowfication and Bankai. He never once refers to Hollowfication or Bankai in a specific to Tosen manner, he only ever mentions them broadly. Which must be the case since when he brings this up, he brings up other characters with Hollow Masks as well, like Ichigo.
Speaking of Ichigo, his Hollow Mask also supports this beyond Bankai level amp to stats. As once Ichigo masters his Hollowfication against Grimmjow and later on when he gets the Striped Mask and fights Gin, Ichigo is able to match order of magnitude amps with his Hollow Mask. Against Grimmjow he matches GRC level amp (Hollow Mask Ichigo > GRC > CO = 10x Cero > Base Grimmjow Bankai Ichigo), and against Gin he matches a Buto Renjin level amp despite being mentally nerfed (Hollow Mask Ichigo ~ Buto Renjin = 10x Gin > Gin >~ Bankai Ichigo). What adds to this consistency is that Buto Renjin also amps speed by 2x, but once Ichigo dons his Hollow Mask he can react to it at point blank range and evade it, this would intrinsically mean that his Hollow Mask would have to amp his speed as well far beyond 2x. Considering his Bankai amps his speed by 5x, and the Hollow Mask is supposed to provide a greater amp than Bankai this is all consistent. However, I will say Ichigo is a bit of a special case, his growth rate with Hollowfication and his own genetics (being a natural born Shinigami-Human-Quincy-Hollow hybrid makes him predisposed to better Hollow powers). So, I’m not proposing that via Ichigo we make all Hollow Masks 10x amps, but just rather Ichigo well supports the notion that Hollow Masks grant Bankai+ level amps to all your stats.
We also have characters like Love and Rose using their Hollow Masks to survive attacks from Los Lobos. Los Lobos being described as Stark’s strongest technique (making it scale beyond the Cero Oscuras, aka beyond 10x). In addition, Ichigo does something similar when he uses his Hollow Mask to survive a Cero Oscuras from Res Ulquiorra. While these characters didn’t tank the attacks per se, their Hollow Masks were shattered but it made them strong enough to live an attack that would have killed them otherwise. And the key characteristic of these attacks is that they all scale well beyond simply 10x above the aforementioned characters. Also, Shinji’s own Hollow Mask was going to force Grimmjow to use his Resurreccion (Grimmjow’s Res is a 10x amp via scaling to Ichigo’s Hollow Mask). While this doesn’t mean Hollow Mask Shinji would fight on par or beat Res Grimmjow, it is worth noting that Grimmjow felt a 10x amp was necessary to combat Shinji with his Hollow Mask. All in all, more support for the baseline Hollow Mask being at least 5x amp all around. Especially considering that a vague unquantifiable amp enabling you to tank/survive attacks far beyond 10x your base output is not logical in the slightest.
Finally, the aspect of this that really has me scratching my head a bit is our multiplier standards page. It states that it prefers we obtain multipliers from direct statements if at all possible; although, that is not the only way for a multiplier to be accepted. Specifically, it mentions that to increase the preponderance of evidence of a multiplier, one should consider how integral that multiplier is to the plot/narrative of the story. And for Bleach, I’d argue the Hollow Mask multiplier is very integral to at the bare minimum 400 some odd chapters out of a nigh 700 chapter series.
Hollowfication itself is directly tied to one of Aizen’s main goals. The goal of breaking down the limits of the Shinigami in order to ascend to new horizons of power. In fact, Hollowfication was a process in the story born from the Hogyoku, the same Hogyoku Aizen uses to create Arrancar and evolve himself as well. All of this to say, Hollowfication in the story is intrinsically tied to Aizen’s reach for power, which drives the main conflict of the majority of the story. Aizen had reached the heights of his power as a Shinigami, so when seeking methods to raise that ceiling the first thing he did was go to Hollowfication. Additionally, a big part of Ichigo’s growth throughout the series is to accept these terrifying powers (specifically of his Hollow and his Hollow transformations) as part of himself to use, rather than reject them. Ichigo’s power and character growth in the narrative is tied to his willingness to accept and use his Hollow powers for a vast majority of the series. As such, I believe the Hollow Mask is not at odds with our own standards for multipliers.
Conclusion
I believe that unless specified otherwise, we should continue to treat the Hollow Mask as 5x amp to all stats as we have been doing. Really I wanted to make this thread to compile the primary evidence so that it could be linked and referenced on profiles. But this also serves to solidify/hash out the justification for the Hollow Mask multiplier.Agree: Tracer (fine with 5x, but thinks 10x is better), Damage (5x), Mitch (5x), LordGriff (5x), StarterPack (5x), KT (5x), Duedate (5x)
Neutral:
Disagree:
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