I'm not sure either how much he can decide, but I guess I'm assuming that it's mostly physical appearance changes that can take him by surprise, other than the superficial changes he always seems to regenerate into a ~more or less~ similar form and personality
I agree that I don't think that he would care much if he regenerated as female, his reaction to Missy suggests that it's not a big deal in Time Lord society if you do switch genders, but at the same time the fact that the Doctor has never regenerated as a woman through 12 regenerations suggests to me that he must identify as male in some way, or else why would it have mattered if some of those regenerations were female and some male?
(no subject)
Date: 2015-08-03 08:40 am (UTC)I agree that I don't think that he would care much if he regenerated as female, his reaction to Missy suggests that it's not a big deal in Time Lord society if you do switch genders, but at the same time the fact that the Doctor has never regenerated as a woman through 12 regenerations suggests to me that he must identify as male in some way, or else why would it have mattered if some of those regenerations were female and some male?