Monday, March 13, 2017

WE ARE THE BORG, but it's really not about us

Okay, so I've realized my vision of the look of this blog.  But I got to thinking, are there readers who are wondering why this looks like a Star Trek Fanblog, and not one about sports trading cards?

The gist of it is, I am a fan of both.  And that's why I draw the connection to collecting cards and the Borg Collective.

Now I admit, I have a couple Star Trek uniforms in my closet (that haven't fit me for years).  And I've seem most of the shows and movies with all the classic casts.  I still use LoQtus as a login name on several sites, and my email address is a Klingon word + my initials.  I've used it for decades.
But there hasn't been a Trek show on TV since 2005 (except in reruns), and the reboot movies are OK, but just not the same.  So my Trek fandom has waned somewhat in the last several years.  My card collecting, however,  has continued to accelerate almost to the point where I don't do much else if I'm not working or eating....


For those of you that were either born closer to 1987 and missed most of the Star Trek shows and movies, or who don't watch TV, or don't like sci-fi at all, here is the quick version of who the heck these Borg people are and why I sometimes will shout orders at you like I'm taking over your life.

Trek fans can skip to the next section....

The Borg race was introduced into Star Trek: The Next Generation in the second season episode "Q Who?".  They are humanoids with artificial enhancements (sensory equipment, weapons, tools, etc) grafted into their bodies.  Hence the name Borg, a short version of "cyborg".  They are unique individuals, but are built for certain tasks within their "Collective" group.  They are all connected to each other in this Collective, or "Hive Mind".  They do not think or speak as individuals, but rather send audible messages speaking as one voice, which usually begin with "Resistance is Futile...."  They exist to "assimilate" other species' beings, culture, and technologies into the Collective.  Their goal is to achieve "perfection".

...much like we collectors live to assimilate every card of a particular player, team, set or subject.  We're just generally a little friendlier about it.  And being part of the blogiverse (or is it still blogosphere?), we use technology to communicate about products, trades, players, and trends.  So merging the two worlds made a lot of sense to me.  I've even got a few sets of Trek cards in a binder too.

Anyway, it's nice to finally have this site up to speed, with all the functions like blogroll, links to my wants and email address (can't figure out why my profile link doesn't show), full post history, and followers.  Every now and then the theme comes in handy for expressing ideas.  But I'll usually write most of my post in a normal collector voice.

Let me know what you think of the improvements!

Stay tuned for future posts where I'm continuing a series of custom Trek cards I started a long time ago.

4 comments:

  1. Love the new look! I must admit, I'm one of those who never did care much for Star Trek - I just wasn't exposed to it much, as a kid. However, these Borgs sound an awful lot like the Cybermen of Doctor Who fame, if I may blend in another fandom to this post.

    Anyway, this new site design might just have achieved perfection!

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  2. There was an episode in Season 1, where the Enterprise was exploring at the outskirts of federation/neutral zone where a couple of planets had been ravaged, this was the prelude to the Borg.

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  3. Your new layout looks amazing! So much so, that I will freely admit that I'm actually jealous of you for creating such an awesome looking blog.

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  4. Thanks guys, amazing what one can do with an old version of Paint Shop Pro.

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