PDA

View Full Version : An idea to solve V's gender dispute.



choken1
2009-02-06, 09:09 AM
#I know this is a bit long winded but please read it through before posting.#

Hey there. I'm a long time reader, first time poster and I'm thinking of suggesting an idea to solve V's gender dispute once and for all. Now, I don't know for how long many of you have been following this comic but I myself have been reading this since before it reached the 100th page. Even back then there was a dispute about V's gender which until now I've completely ignored.

Anyways, if my memory serves me right, there used to be an old "faq" topic back then where the Rich answered the most common questions he received like when he updates, why he's making the comic and the topic of V's gender. I think originally, Rich never intended to make a running joke from this but someone, somewhere, started to ask the question of why it was so hard til tell Vaarsuvius's gender. I think that Rich first started to play along and joke around with it in the strip where V refused to go into the bathroom, during their pit stop where you had the option of a man vs woman stall. If I remember Rich's answer about V's gender in the "faq", it was something along the lines of this: Muahaha! I will never tell you!

Obviously, he intends to lead you on, those who care, with silly scenarios where you'll never quite figure it out. Like I once said to my friends "It's Pat all over again. So here's my suggestion:

Let's say V's a male. Why male?....because.... why not? If you honestly believe V's a female, say he's a male anyways. If you honestly need me to come up with a valid argument, I'll offer you two things: In one of the early strips (number 9 to be specific) Roy calls Vaarsuvius, V-man. This strip was made before Rich started to play along with confusing people with V's androgyny which seems to suggest that he originally planed for V to be a male. Another thing is the fact that V is out there adventuring while V's mate is bringing up their children. That's follows the classic gender roles where the male takes off and the female raises the offspring. I'm sure we'll find female clues as well. If you examine the pages you'll find plenty of clues that suggest one or the other. Thus I consider everything I just said and counter arguments like "actually, in strip # V's clearly doing this, thus I say she's a female" a futile exercise.

Now I'm not trying to convince the "V's a female" supporters that they're wrong but more to play along. My theory is that one of two will happen:

If people start to refer to V as "him" and only "him" and we stop seeing these "Which gender is V?" topics popping up. Rich will finally stop, figuring the joke's dead and announce the gender. He might either say "Fine you're right he's a male" or he might go for the "HAH HA! You're all wrong V's a female" approach in a last ditch to screw with us. In that case the female supporters might be rewarded for playing along.

Alternatively Rich might refuse to back down (especially since he can read this topic) and this whole experiment becomes a big waste of time. However, we'll never know unless we try. So how about it? Whenever someone starts and gender argument, let's quickly silence it by saying "V's a male. It was decided" and follow up by referring to this topic.

Now some may argue that I am only doing this because I am a "V's a male" supporter. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm a person who generally don't care but wishes for this argument to cease because frankly I consider it to be getting a little to old and wished to offer a solution to the problem. All I'm saying, please don't turn this into a "Which sex is V?" argument because that is not why I created this topic. I will not try to counter argue your opinion so it's futile. However. If you all decide that Rich has to come clean eventually and this might be a way to do it then spread the word and say: "V's a male. It's decided."

So say we all?

Kaytara
2009-02-06, 10:13 AM
Ah, but where would the fun in that be?

The_Void
2009-02-06, 10:15 AM
#I know this is a bit long winded but please read it through before posting.#

Hey there. I'm a long time reader, first time poster and I'm thinking of suggesting an idea to solve V's gender dispute once and for all. Now, I don't know for how long many of you have been following this comic but I myself have been reading this since before it reached the 100th page. Even back then there was a dispute about V's gender which until now I've completely ignored.

Anyways, if my memory serves me right, there used to be an old "faq" topic back then where the Rich answered the most common questions he received like when he updates, why he's making the comic and the topic of V's gender. I think originally, Rich never intended to make a running joke from this but someone, somewhere, started to ask the question of why it was so hard til tell Vaarsuvius's gender. I think that Rich first started to play along and joke around with it in the strip where V refused to go into the bathroom, during their pit stop where you had the option of a man vs woman stall. If I remember Rich's answer about V's gender in the "faq", it was something along the lines of this: Muahaha! I will never tell you!

Obviously, he intends to lead you on, those who care, with silly scenarios where you'll never quite figure it out. Like I once said to my friends "It's Pat all over again. So here's my suggestion:

Let's say V's a male. Why male?....because.... why not? If you honestly believe V's a female, say he's a male anyways. If you honestly need me to come up with a valid argument, I'll offer you two things: In one of the early strips (number 9 to be specific) Roy calls Vaarsuvius, V-man. This strip was made before Rich started to play along with confusing people with V's androgyny which seems to suggest that he originally planed for V to be a male. Another thing is the fact that V is out there adventuring while V's mate is bringing up their children. That's follows the classic gender roles where the male takes off and the female raises the offspring. I'm sure we'll find female clues as well. If you examine the pages you'll find plenty of clues that suggest one or the other. Thus I consider everything I just said and counter arguments like "actually, in strip # V's clearly doing this, thus I say she's a female" a futile exercise.

Now I'm not trying to convince the "V's a female" supporters that they're wrong but more to play along. My theory is that one of two will happen:

If people start to refer to V as "him" and only "him" and we stop seeing these "Which gender is V?" topics popping up. Rich will finally stop, figuring the joke's dead and announce the gender. He might either say "Fine you're right he's a male" or he might go for the "HAH HA! You're all wrong V's a female" approach in a last ditch to screw with us. In that case the female supporters might be rewarded for playing along.

Alternatively Rich might refuse to back down (especially since he can read this topic) and this whole experiment becomes a big waste of time. However, we'll never know unless we try. So how about it? Whenever someone starts and gender argument, let's quickly silence it by saying "V's a male. It was decided" and follow up by referring to this topic.

Now some may argue that I am only doing this because I am a "V's a male" supporter. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm a person who generally don't care but wishes for this argument to cease because frankly I consider it to be getting a little to old and wished to offer a solution to the problem. All I'm saying, please don't turn this into a "Which sex is V?" argument because that is not why I created this topic. I will not try to counter argue your opinion so it's futile. However. If you all decide that Rich has to come clean eventually and this might be a way to do it then spread the word and say: "V's a male. It's decided."

So say we all?

No.


(10 characters)

SkredlitheOgre
2009-02-06, 10:20 AM
Um, no.

First off, Rich has said we're never going to find out V's gender, so basically, it doesn't matter, except for humor situations, which Rich is good enough to handle without input from us forumites.

Secondly, it doesn't matter. Seriously. A guy I work with also reads OoTS, as well as being my GM, and when we talk about V, he says that V is male, I say V is female. He calls V 'he/him' and I say 'she/her.' We both know who we're talking about, so we don't need to compromise on what to call V.

Thirdly, who said elves have 'traditional gender roles?' Last time I checked, none of us have spent much time among the elves in order to study their society. Just a thought. Who knows, maybe elves have a third gender that is neither male or female and V and HER mate adopted. Or maybe elves are hepmaphroditic, meaning their both. So, we can all be wrong and right at the same time!

Why can't we just say 'V is female?' Why? Well, we shouldn't. I think it's up to the individual reader. I asked my coworker why he thought V was male. His answer was, 'When I read V and the was he speaks and acts, I read him as being male.' My response was, 'When I read V, I read her as being female.' We've both said, though, that neither of us would be surprised if it turned out V was the other gender. It wouldn't matter either way, honestly.

Come on. Is it so distracting from the awesomeness that is OoTS that we have to say that V is conclusively male or conclusively female? No. Honestly, could care less. I just hate it when people try to convince me to do something that is this pointless.

Oh, and by the way, just because Rich reads the forums on occasion doesn't mean they affect anything. This is right up there with 'OMG, Rich used my idea in the comic!'

The point I'm trying to make is that the argument will NEVER stop, regardless of what we do, because there is ALWAYS someone out there to say the opposite, whether they have proof or not. Trolls will always exist.

The only way we will EVER know the answer, unless Rich renegs and puts it in the comics, is wait for him to pass away (which hopefully no time soon) and cast Speak With Dead on him. Or make a pact with the devil/demon/whatever.

Basically, if it's THAT big a deal, don't read threads that have to do with V's gender. Personally, I like watching people argue for a couple of pages, and then I leave that thread. Seriously. It's not that difficult to either skip it or hit the Back button on your browser.

Just my two electrum pieces.

StO.

choken1
2009-02-06, 02:12 PM
Come on. Is it so distracting from the awesomeness that is OoTS that we have to say that V is conclusively male or conclusively female? No. Honestly, could care less. I just hate it when people try to convince me to do something that is this pointless.


Look, I'm not loosing any sleep over this but ever since I started glimpsing over the forums I've noticed that this is the number one topic to pop up. Heck, now that the story is focusing on V half of the comments for the past 3 updates have been about people pondering about what sex he or she is. What strikes me the most is some people go around the topic by creating amalgams of female and male description and refer to V as hir or s/he or h** or ey. And now people are trying to figure out if the two elves are gay couples with adopted children. Since this has been going on practically non stop since early on in the story, I figured many might be tired of this argument. I know Rich never intended to have this running joke in his story but that he added it in when he noticed that it was riling up some of the speculators. My idea was that if the speculation disappears then he might not care anymore.

Obviously many feel passionate about it and I argue that you might be as well since you give such a lengthy counter argument. I mentioned the traditional gender roles because they're.. well.. traditional. Many writers who create stories have settings like that. I'd admit that I haven't seen any "Elves in their habitat" documentaries but I'd say that elves with 3 sexes is a bit far fetch idea.

I mentioned myself that this might be a futile experiment. At best it was an idea to quiet down the endless speculation but since it's being unanimously shot down like this then so be it. You'll never hear me speaking of it again.

Peace.

P.S. Judging by how many people seem to hate the gender dispute, I'm surprised that no one liked the idea.