DIS: “Will You Take My Hand?”

[Yukaphile]

That renders the reason they assimilated Locutus moot. And it's contradicted by Voyager anyway.

[Fianna]

Unless you assume the Borg Queen is basically just Locutus 2.0.

And, yeah, Voyager contradicts that, but I'm talking specifically about the Borg Queen concept in relation to First Contact, from before Voyager did anything with it.

[Madner Kami]

One could argue, that once the Collective personified itself quite literally, the Gestalt Conciousness began to percieve itself as an individual.
I generally do not buy into the Queen having been there since the beginning. Imo it's a result of the changes brought by the Collective's decission to leave Locutus some leeway in executing the Collective's will and subsequent upheaval brought by Hugh and Lore. One shouldn't forget, that the Borg originally, were not primarily interested in assimilating people. They were looking for new technologies. They were interested in the Enterprise, not the crew at all. The idea of assimilation of alien species into the Collective always seemed like more of a one-off idea resulting in Locutus, with the nanoprobe-assimilation not being a thing until the time of the First Contact Invasion.

That is, solely looking at it from an in-universe perspective. Out of universe, I think the Queen is an interesting idea badly executed which was brought by First Contact and got progressively worse thanks to Voyager and both the movie and Voyager also made assimilation of individuals a point that it never was in the first place, worsening it the further down the line Voyager goes. I'm of the strong believe, that we only ever see native Borg in TNG, with Locutus being the first and only non-Borg within the Collective.

[Yukaphile]

That is my headcanon. It all has to do with Hugh.

[Makeshift Python]

I do think the Borg Queen being a representative of the collective makes sense, though why there would need to be a Locutus figure is a good question beyond just the Queen wanting "an equal".

I only started to dislike the Queen once VOYAGER made use of her, and the more she was used the more she started being written too much like a cartoon villain, like when she'd look at a viewscreen with Voyager approaching and she'd exclaim "JANEWAY!" I understand bringing her back was so that Seven could have someone to interact with in person, but boy did that go downhill pretty fast.

[Yukaphile]

As I said, it betrays the original Borg idea - it anthropomorphizes them. Because to follow this idea to its source, the Queen wants an "equal" in Picard because he's human, because humanity is special, it's why they wanted to assimilate us, but then, that betrays the concept that we were just an average conquest that was foiled by pure luck in "Best of Both Worlds." This implies there's a grand plan for humanity, which is what Voyager does. I mean, the Queen's "Dr. Evil plot," anyone?

[Makeshift Python]

I'm not sure where you're getting "equal"="humanity is special".

Funnily, BTS the dramatic reason for assimilating Picard was because Piller felt there needed to be a figure for the characters to interact with rather than just a shot of the cube interior and a bunch of voices modulated in unison.

[Madner Kami]

Funnily, BTS the dramatic reason for assimilating Picard was because Piller felt there needed to be a figure for the characters to interact with rather than just a shot of the cube interior and a bunch of voices modulated in unison.

Huh. Now that would explain things. You got a source for that?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

the borg needing an equal or counterpart, I'm not too clear on. The borg being intrigued by the Enterprise and Picards knowledge of Starfleet information, and using all that to efficiently assimilate Earth seems clear enough even if it's making humans special for no reason in the writing. Him or Data freely joining as an equal to them doesn't seem necessary.

[Yukaphile]

Exactly. The Queen (and of course, the all-too-quick battle) is what ruins the film, I think. If the Borg had just been presented as is without the Queen, and the Borg were attempting to assimilate Data, but having a hard time, and instead offered to tempt him instead, speaking in that singular collective voice, it could have been more effective. And show Data actually being tempted. I mean, "Best of Both Worlds" implies the Borg saw Earth as nothing special, but their first contact brought the Alpha Quadrant to their attention, a new place for their kind of order, so they rushed there to assimilate it, as a routine job. You know, I'm gonna shift this discussion elsewhere.