While I was poking around online, trying to settle the Mask Question, I thoroughly examined Sideshow Toy's sales site and their official fan message board, Sideshow Freaks. I found the main discussion thread about Hot Toys' Selina Kyle and searched it for information on said Mask Question.

I did not find any information. I did, however, find a 250-page thread with scores of posts pissing and moaning about all aspects of the Mask Question, including those I'd never even considered.

Her mask should come off because [reasons].

Her mask shouldn't come off because [reasons].

There should be a separate headsculpt without the mask.

Mask off isn't movie accurate.

Mask off is preferable for kitbashers.

It's still in prototype, so Hot Toys has a chance to change the figure, possibly making a non-removable mask removable.

And on and on and on. Just in case you didn't notice, 1:6 scale action figure nerds are some of the pickiest people on the planet, especially when they have audiovisual source material to compare the figs to.

I noticed that, in 250 pages of pissing and moaning, no one thought to ask customer service to settle the Mask Question. In my mind, that's the logical next step, since Sideshow is the official US distributor for Hot Toys and therefore communicates closely with them. If I can pry the answer to the Mask Question out of anyone, it would be out of customer service. Therefore, being an eminently sensible individual, I asked Sideshow customer service, received a response and posted the response [mask = removable] on MWD and Sideshow Collectors.

MWD said thank you. Sideshow Collectors was unimpressed. One poster actually disagreed with me, saying that Hot Toys, experiencing a language barrier, probably got confused by the term "mask" and was instead talking about her goggles, which do come off. Plus wouldn't they have shown the doll with her mask off if her mask came off? Another poster rebutted by saying that she never took her mask off when she was wearing that outfit in the movie, so why would the promo pics show her maskless? And they were off and running again.

Seriously, people? Seriously? This is how you get off? I have never experienced such a community that was so pissy about their creative pursuits. I'm not talking about being judgmental the way that BJD communities can be; I'm talking about sustained, pointless hostility toward the very thing that the community is supposed to value and enjoy. It's so weird.