Agreed. I never had a problem with them assimilating people as well as technology. Besides, "Q Who?" never established that the Borg acquired drones by means other than assimilation. Some might still think Riker's speculation that the "Borg appear to be born 'human'*" means the Borg reproduced themselves, which is bogus. The baby we saw's easily reconciled as a newly assimilated tot in a maturation chamber, which was seen and discussed a couple of times in VGR.DaveJB wrote:The "Space Vampires" thing wasn't a huge problem in of itself to me - the faster assimilation method was actually a fairly logical evolution of the assimilation process that we had previously seen (even if it did feel like it had come out of nowhere), and if we're going to rag on STFC for changing the Borg, let's not forget that BoBW had already altered them from how they were depicted in Q Who.
*Ehhh ... Human?
Some others have pointed to "Q Who?" as some kind of awkward "proof" that the Borg were only interested in technology. Maybe that's how the Borg were envisioned when the episode was written. Then again, who cares about that shit anymore? Things obviously changed, but more importantly, nothing in that show demonstrated they were disinterested in assimilating lifeforms. Indeed, in the following series, they almost always prioritized assimilating new technologies (or even the vague promise thereof, as was the case with two otherwise primitive species mentioned in "The Omega Directive"). It seems that people are only assimilated if they're physically remarkable, offer sufficient resistance to warrant adding their "individuality" to the Collective, or if they simply need more manpower.
Another note: "First Contact" clearly established that the Queen afforded Picard a slight degree of individuality. How else could he "give himself willingly" to the Collective? This meshes nicely with the fact that we saw him doing things that we've never seen another drone do -- not while they're hooked up to the hivemind, at least (e.g., crying, mumbling "Sleep. Sleep, Data"). As such, it's little surprise that Picard was assimilated in a more deliberate manner. Even without pumping him full of nanoprobes, being slowly turned into your enemy, piece by piece, is torture enough to BREAK the fucker -- make him more susceptible to surrendering his soul. Maybe the "jab tubes into neck" approach can't be finessed?
... not that you said any such things, mind you, Dave. I reckon you'd probably say something more along the lines of what I just did. I brought those things up mostly in anticipation someone dusting off old arguments to shoot me down
In fairness, the Flyer used some kind of cloaking technology -- a blither-blather field Seven's pop cooked up decades before -- when it approached the primary Unicomplex.For me, the problem was how easy it was to defeat the Borg in Voyager. The "Scorpion" two-parter wasn't too bad, since it was made pretty clear that Voyager would probably have been destroyed or assimilated if it hadn't been for Kes pushing them away from danger. Where the Borg really went off the rails was "Dark Frontier" - the sight of the Delta Flyer casually sauntering into the Borg's biggest and most fortified installation, rescuing Seven of Nine without a hitch, and then Voyager destroying the Borg Queen's craft with the power of technobabble was IMO where the Borg threat curled up and died.
But you're right. That was pretty embarrassing. I was also wholly unimpressed with the "Type 4 Tactical Vessel's" performance against the Voyager. Sure, it whipped her, but only after a few minutes of combat. In an earlier show, a "long-range tactical vessel," a sphere many times smaller than the tacticube, had the VGR on her knees inside 30 seconds. That was even after the "One" drone had magically enhanced their defenses
I should also thank you for not misrepresenting things. Over the years, I've read countless people, even in this forum, go on about how the VGR "kicked the Borg's ass" on numerous occasions, including the aforementioned battle from "Unimatrix Zero." I got tired of playing the Borg Dork and correcting posters on those lies (or in many cases, just ignorance; they'd never even seen the episodes in question). The only hurfhurfTreksux! claim that irritated me more was that "Data and Worf got their 'asses kicked" by Ferengi' in 'The Last Outpost'" myth that pops up anytime Worf's compared to Neroon, Chewie, Teal'c or other badass sci-fi characters.
#1: When I think of an ass-kicking, I don't think of someone simply falling down for a moment. I can do that by myself, like when I step on a banana peel or patch of icy cement. Does that mean I kicked my own ass?
Nah, see, in my mind, "ass-kicking" usually entails a dude lying on the ground, either knocked out cold or showing some sign of a decent beating. You know, kinda like this, which I would rate a Grade A ass-kicking:
#2: Worf and Data were each holding a couple of Ferengi, who were struggling and kicking IIRC. Then that Portal thing showed up, and the ground shuddered violently for a few seconds, during which time Worf and Data fell down.
Yeah ... the Ferengi sure beat their asses, alright
Let's ignore the fucking earthquake! 
