Burn counter to gain control of/steal a minion

There have been a few discussions around the workings of the different cards that have "burn counters to gain control of/steal a minion" (from here-on referred to as the "ability").

1) Is the "ability" of Contagion tied to the strike it provides (i.e. the strike must be used and be effective "close range" to be able to use the "ability" and cannot be used if the opposing minion dodges or S:CE)?

My conclusion is that it is tied to the strike. Looking for explicit confirmation as it isn't provided in earlier rulings.
[LSJ 20040130]
[ANK 20200909]

2) Can the "ability" of Contagion be used if the opposing minion has been sent to torpor as part of the strike resolution?

My conclusion is that it can be used as there is no mention of the minion needing to be ready/not wounded.

3) Can the below cards' "ability" be used even though the action is blocked and goes through normal block resolution?

Corruption, Reformation and Revelation of Ecstasy

My conclusion is that the "ability" cannot be used as the card is burned when the action is blocked and therefore is tied to the success of the action (i.e. the action not being blocked)
same as Cave of Apples which explicitly has it in its text but the reason for that is that it is a card in play providing an action and therefore doesn´t burn if blocked.

4) Can the "ability" while having Form of Corruption in play only be used during one´s master phase immediately after (since one´s last turn) when and if one´s prey gets the Edge anew (i.e. gets the Edge from someone else or while it was uncontrolled)?

My conclusion is that it is an "ability" provided by a card in play that one can trigger to use independently/separately from the conditioned ability that allows one to add counters to it and thereby the "ability" can be used at any time during one´s master phase regardless of who has the Edge and when they got it.

5) When playing Revelation of Despair or Venenation and the "ability" is used to steal the opposing minion does it:
a) immediately end the action or can further modifiers and reactions be played?
b) in the case of RoD lock the minion using it after taking control of the opposing minion?
c) in the case of Venenation lock the blocking minion being stolen after taking control of him/her?

My conclusion for
a) is that it does not end the action because it doesn´t explicitly says so and the player now controlling both of the minions is free to play further modifiers or reactions with both the minions.
b & c) is that based on the ruling [LSJ 20010803] the minion playing RoD and the minion being stolen by Venenation is locked because the process still moves forward to block resolution which locks the blocking minion and the combat is prevented since the combatants now share the same controller.