I was talking about in context of the movies. I didn't want to explicitly state that so soon after another post where I explicitly stated that. Neither Palpatine nor Darth Maul nor Dooku nor Grievous wore masks. Vader was the only one. He woke up with it on while it controlled necessary functions for him to survive so, for Vader, it was not a choice based on what other Sith have done. If other Sith wear them in the EU for a similar reason (shameless Vader knock-off), then it's just as stupid and deserves the same criticism.
Kylo did not force-choke the First Order officer who was arguing with him about methods. I think it's only "normal" due to everyone trying to rip off Vader.
Yeah, I get your point. I find it hard to defend the idea from my own perspective because I absolutely do not support the notion that anyone should need to absorb any exterior content to understand plotting or characters within any individual movie.
That being said, I'm also not sure I agree with your notion that no one takes him seriously because he is wearing a mask, or that he isn't all that serious himself if he is wearing the outfit simply because he wants to be Vader.
I think those folks in the Star Wars world do take him rather seriously, what with all the murder and what not. The Nazis around him seem rather wary of his little tantrums.
However, it would probably be best to have him kill off a few more stormtroopers, or Nazis, for trivial matters, like Vader.
I think the dude is a bit unhinged--partly because of the whole darkside thing, hero worship, immaturity and loss of family, but also because there seems to be no real hierarchy in the current amalgamation of the Sith order. He talks to that creepy golem dude that seems to be holding all the strings, but those scenes suggest an unnumbered sum of additional Sith lords, or would-be lords, vying for the 2nd or the top spot. It seems that Ren is in charge of this New Order group (perhaps there are other powerful, and independent, galaxy-wide fascist orgs competing with them?) or he is simply the liaison/Sith commander for this particular outfit of Nazis in this sector of the galaxy.
Ren seems rather angsty about the woeful incompetence of his particular band of merry Nazis, as well as his interactions with creepy less-than-face guy, as it seems his positioning in the Sith is tenuous, at best.
I guess you could say he is middle management with one asshole boss looking for any excuse to replace him and a team of incompetent Miltons making him look bad.
Honestly, if they shave off his hair and give him some serious scars for the next episode he would be fine. He definitely needs to be more murdery.