MEET BT21
In the midsts of late 2017 Korean SNS house LINE decided to extend their character universe with the help of the well known k-pop group BTS. It is their first project for the Line Friends Creators that incorporated the idols creating their own little characters, creating 8 new members of the Line family. One thing that is special about the characters is that they are not based on the members themselves. Line stated they didn't want to simply just turn BTS into cartoon versions of themselves, so instead they made them use their imaginations in ways that will make the project seem personal between the brand, the band and the fans. Each member designed their characters in sketches and created them to every detail, including their personalities.
Most people never saw the collaboration coming so when it did become official many asked why BTS? The Line Creators stated-
"BTS, the first artist to join the ‘FRIENDS CREATORS’ Project, is a creator that shows connection in terms of the global character brand LINE FRIENDS’ keywords: Global, Millennials and Trending. BTS has high popularity and strong influence in the world, and are great story tellers of our time who can share the story of ‘development in IP".
But your question probably is, who the hell is BTS?
BTS is one of my favourite groups. The seven member group, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a seven-member debuted on June 12, 2013 with the song "No More Dream" from their first album 2 Cool 4 Skool. After a shot of popularity they won many New Artist of the Year awards for the track, including at the 2013 MMA's (Melon Music Awards) and Golden Disc Awards and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards. Later albums like Dark & Wild (2014), The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 (2015) and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (2016) brought the group into a higher level of the kpop industry and entering them into the billboard top 200. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever went on to win the Album of the Year award at the 2016 Melon Music Awards. This was the beginning of their career as one of THE greatest k-pop groups of this generation.
Early 2017 saw BTS embark on their Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour. During this time, pre-orders for their new album You Never Walk Alone, reached over 700,000 copies."Spring Day", the title track, topped eight of the major South Korean online music charts, crashing Melon's digital chart due to traffic. It also entered the US Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 15 with "zero promotions". The music video also reached over 9 million views within 24 hours, breaking their previous music videos record. Less than a week later, the music video for their second single "Not Today" overtook "Spring Day"'s record with 10 million views. Similarly, "Spring Day" became the fastest K-pop group music video to reach 20 million views, achieving the feat in less than four days; "Not Today" bested it in less than three.
Their fifth EP, Love Yourself: Her (2017), was released that September and featured music from The Chainsmokers for the song "Best of Me; showing their Western popularity. The lead single "DNA" peaked at number 2 on the Gaon Chart, while its music video reached over 20 million views on YouTube, becoming one of the most viewed K-pop music videos within the first 24 hours. November saw BTS become the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards. They won their second Artist of the Year at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, becoming the first act to win the award two years in a row."Spring Day" later won Best Song of the Year at the Melon Music Awards. On the 12th of December, the group revealed they would be performing on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to welcome the new year, making them the first kpop group to be part of the shows lineup. They also made their Japanese TV music show debut on TV Asahi's Japan Music Station Super Live on December 22, and two days later, they were revealed to be the most tweeted about celebrity in 2017, being "liked or retweeted over half a billion times (502 million)" worldwide. (-wiki)
Okay so lets meet the characters...
"UNIVERSTAR BT21
From the far distant space, TATA was always curious about everything across the universe. During his journey with VAN, they fell down to Earth accidentally. There. TATA made up his mind to become a superstar and met 6 of the most charming members: RJ, CHIMMY, COOKY, MANG, SHOOKY, KOYA. This is the beginning of the future UNIVERSTAR BT21..."
(My fave) RJ the Kind Alpaca. Kind and polite, the cutest while mumbling. Wears a parka because it gets cold easily. - Created by member Jin
Masked Dancing PonyWhile dancing, MANG is cooler than ever. Always wears masks.-Created by member Hoseok
Yummy-head SHOOKY. Magic cookie with special powers. Scared of milk.- Created by member Yoongi
Thinker Koala KOYA is smart, but looks sleepy while actually thinking deeply.-Created by member Namjoon
Passionate Puppy. CHIMMY, born with passion and tries hard at everything. - Created by member Jimin
Pinkish Tough Bunny COOKY is a bunny with a twist who dreams of being strong.- Created by member Jungkook
The super curious TATA. From BT Planet, Tata is very curious about everything. - Created by member Taehyung
They have three stores in the world that sell BT21 merchandise; New York, Seoul and Itaewon, and every time they are seen. The stores are FULL. The reason why I wanted to make this post is to introduce this collaboration to another audience, as well as showing you my visit of their NYC store. Plus the characters are too cute.
Okay so lets get to the store itself. As I said I was in NYC so I jumped at the chance of visiting the store, as well as owning some of the limited edition merchandise.
The store is located in the centre of Times Square, so it's in the perfect place. Outside is a huge billboard that features adorable clips of the orig
inal Line Friends and the BT21 characters. (Along with this an advert for BTS's music collaboration with DJ Steve Aoki is played, check it out in the video at the end of the post)
When you walk into the store you are immediately blinded by the artsy neon signs for the BT21 project. Along with this is a statue of one of the characters (made by the fans to represent them) called VAN, the protector of the characters. I did take this as a photo opportunity. (Like I was gonna miss that) Next to this is a cute area with statues of the characters.
RJ is still my favourite. An alpaca with a neckerchief? Just take my money.
I bought a limited edition RJ t-shirt that is adorable. It cost $29.95 but you can only buy them in store so for me it was worth it.
Whilst I was there I also looked at the Line Friends line of merchandise. This included taking a photo with the infamous Line bear. If you put Line Store into Instagram most likely this bear and people taking selfies etc with it will pop up.
As you leave the store there are a few items that BTS themselves designed and created by hand. On the wall was seven denim jackets that were customised to each member, however I couldn't take photos of them. What I could take a photo of was the signed and doodled sneakers that were in a glass case. My friend with me at the time asked why they weren't on sale, which I replied with BTS signed them so no one will be able to afford them. The sad sad truth.
Overall I loved the store. As a fan in the West hearing your fave k-pop artists being played in a store is a weird experience, but also in a fans perspective it makes you feel like you are a part of something special. Even the staff who were clueless as to who BTS were asked me why they had so many fangirls in there going insane over the merchandise. So that exclusivity is the main part of the project. Having to travel to these destinations to be able to be a part of the project is a clever selling point, but also something to enjoy and celebrate.
The characters are adorable and I could tell exactly who created them through the personalities they have. The merchandise is limited at the moment as they have only just launched, they are set to release more soon and make some products available for a limited time online.
If you are a fan of Korean culture, Line Friends or BTS you should definitely go and visit any of the stores they currently have BT21 in. but even so if you have no idea what I am talking about still, go see it for yourself and take a look around, and hey if you get converted into a Line fan or even an ARMY (the BTS fanbase) then welcome to the fam.
But here is MIC DROP as your taster session:
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