Borg Symbol

[Six of Twelve]

The Borg Symbol of a red clawed hand on a black background is seen only once, in the TNG episode, Descent. I've never seen it used aboard a cube or any other Borg vessel or by the Queen. Indeed, the Borg color scheme seems to be green, black, and silver, with the only red being seen was with some eye implants.

So, this symbol really doesn't belong to the Borg Collective, but, rather, to Lore's group of renegade drones. It's quite likely that Lore himself designed the symbol.

Yet, I see it elsewhere as being representational of all Borg. For instance, I got a 9 inch Seven of Nine figure for my birthday and saw that she came with this symbol as a base stand.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Albertese]

It was used in "The Best of Both Worlds" at least. I think it's been in several other episodes as well. It appeared on the table Picard was being assimilated on. I think it is also included in the vacuum-formed set dressing used on the borg stuff from the get go. It's just disguised by being small and surrounded by other pipes and greeblies. It's also appeared on various video graphics in Voyager episodes.

I'm not surprised you never noticed it. I took a long time to notice it myself.

--Alex

 

[JayTheTrekkie]

Perhaps the logo came from the species that the Borg originated from....

 

[Six of Twelve]

It was used in "The Best of Both Worlds" at least. I think it's been in several other episodes as well. It appeared on the table Picard was being assimilated on. I think it is also included in the vacuum-formed set dressing used on the borg stuff from the get go. It's just disguised by being small and surrounded by other pipes and greeblies. It's also appeared on various video graphics in Voyager episodes.

I'm not surprised you never noticed it. I took a long time to notice it myself.

--Alex

Thanks. My eyes have never been the sharpest

 

[The Wormhole]

I think it's also seen in Q Who.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I've never liked the idea of the Borg having a logo. They're an emotionless, cybernetic race that's only interested in other species for their technology... And they have a logo? What was that meeting like?

BORG 1: Strength is irrelevant. Freedom is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. Death is irrelevant.

BORG 2: Hey, do you guys think we need a logo?

BORG 1: HELL YA, SON! Get Graphic Designer 2 of 5 on that right away!

 

[Six of Twelve]

Bahahaha, I liked that.

But you're right. It seems odd that the Collective would bother to have a logo, and would have made better sense if it had been just the renegade Borg using it.

 

[The Wormhole]

As suggested above, it's presumably the logo of the race the Borg originated from. Though I guess it's odd the Collective would choose to keep it. I guess nostalgia isn't irrelevant?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I've never liked the idea of the Borg having a logo. They're an emotionless, cybernetic race that's only interested in other species for their technology... And they have a logo?

So is Apple, and they've got a logo.

I don't see why being an emotionless cybernetic race would preclude you from having a logo. The Borg truly believe that they are bringing enlightenment and salvation to the lesser species of the galaxy through assimilation, and how better to simply and nonverbally sum that up than a universally recognized (at least in the Trek galaxy where most aliens are humanoid) symbol of a helping hand? And the fact that that outstretched hand just happens to be where they inject you with nanoprobes is a bonus.

Additionally, it could also represent something along the lines of a Hydra originating from the Delta Quadrant (the palm) and spreading out in multiple heads/fingers into different parts of the galaxy. If you cut off one head, a new soon one grows in its place, much like the Borg each time they were seemingly defeated.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Species 0002 was a race of marketers, from whom the Borg assimilated the importance of branding.

Don't be fooled by imitation cyborgs. Ask for Borg™ brand by name!

 

[Albertese]

Species 0002 was a race of marketers, from whom the Borg assimilated the importance of branding.

Don't be fooled by imitation cyborgs. Ask for Borg™ brand by name!

This sounds like something the late Douglas Adams might have written in an alternate universe where Star Trek was his idea.

I mean that as a complement.

--Alex

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Honestly, the logo looks like something they outsourced from the Shadows over on Babylon 5.

 

[Kor]

Maybe it's really a plot/graph of some complex mathematical formula, and just happens to look kind of like a hand.

Kor

 

[JesterFace]

I guess nostalgia isn't irrelevant?

BWAHAHAHAHA for these two!!!

Species 0002 was a race of marketers, from whom the Borg assimilated the importance of branding.

 

[at Quark's]

I think it's also seen in Q Who.

It is. AFAIK, next shot is from that ep. At least, Data seems to be wearing a 1st/2nd season uniform...

 

[The Old Mixer]

Maybe at this point it was supposed to be more of an interface symbol than a logo? "Put your hand HERE."

 

[P Tom]

This thread made me want to dig out my old TNG trading cards, one of them is about the Borg symbol.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

"Guys... This whole 'Assimilating people, taking chunks of their cities and ships for study and dispassionately killing millions' thing just isn't doing it for us in the 'Striking terror and fear' department any more. We need a LOGO."

 

[Paradise City]

If there's a borg queen running the outfit, then I guess a logo isn't a big deal.,

 

[Locutus of Bored]

"Guys... This whole 'Assimilating people, taking chunks of their cities and ships for study and dispassionately killing millions' thing just isn't doing it for us in the 'Striking terror and fear' department any more. We need a LOGO."

Not to Godwin the thread, but somewhat along those lines, in 1936 the Nazis put out a 550-page style guide called the Organizationsbuch der NSDAP complete with color illustrations of logos, uniforms, flags, medals, typeface guidelines, etc. down to the most minute and mundane detail. So sometimes the striking terror and fear department and the design department walk hand in hand when you're trying to create a terrifying and monolithic image.