BT21 CHARACTERS BTS MEMBERS facts photos videos
BTS meeting to create BT21

BT21 is the first creation of FRIENDS CREATORS, a project that aimed to create new characters for Line Friends. LINE FRIENDS is a global brand with memorable characters that was originally created to be used as stickers for the LINE mobile messenger with 200 million users worldwide.

South Korean group BTS was the first group of idols to participate in this project, the main theme of which was to show the connection between BTS and Line Friends in terms of popularity around the world. The project included the creation of 8 characters, invented by BTS members. The character drawings were based on the original ideas and sketches of the 7 members. The creation of the BT21 characters was captured in a series of videos available on YouTube (you can watch the first episode below).

The name BT21 is a combination of the name of the BTS group and the 21st century. Suga said the name should represent both BTS and the 21st century so they can live for the next 100 years.

The official release of BT21 in Line Friends took place in October 2017.

Read more about BTS

  1. BT21 characters
  2. Creating BT21
    1. Visit to the LINE STORE (episode 1)
    2. BT21 character design (episode 2)
    3. Presentation of each BTS member’s work (episodes 3 and 4)
    4. Design on a tablet (episode 5)
    5. Drawing results on the tablet (episode 6)
    6. Presentation of the final work (episode 7)
    7. Characters and abilities of BT21 (episodes 8 and 9)
    8. Select the name and location of the meeting. Which BT21 character is the most beautiful? (episode 10)
    9. Final result and development of BT21 (episodes 11, 12 and 13)
  3. BT21 products
    1. What are the BT21 products?
    2. Where to buy BT21 products?

BT21 characters

TATA: a restless and curious soul

tata bt21 Taehyung v bts
Tata, so cute!

Sometimes Tata smiles. This is an alien prince, very curious by nature, who came from the planet BT. Tata has supernatural powers and a super-elastic body that can stretch a lot.

The character Tata was created by Kim Taehyung (V, 김태형).

Cute products BT21

KOYA: the sleeping genius

koya bt21 bts gif
Who are you afraid of, Koya?

Koya is a character who sleeps constantly. This is thinker, a blue koala with a purple nose and removable ears (they fall off when he is shocked or scared). Koya even sleeps, thinking about a lot of things. He lives in a eucalyptus forest.

Koya was created by Kim Namjoon (김남준)

Cute products BT21

RJ: kind and gentle gourmet

RJ has an innate politeness
RJ has an innate politeness

RJ is a character who likes to cook and eat. RJ is a white alpaca who wears a red headscarf and a gray parka when it’s cold. He’s a Machu Picchu native, hates shaving. His fluffy fur and compassionate soul make everyone feel at home with him.

RJ was created by Kim Seok Jin (김석진)

Cute products BT21

SHOOKY: little prankster

SHOOKY suga bt21 kpop gif
Shooky loves to sing

Shooky has a wild temper. This is a naughty little chocolate cookie who is afraid of milk and leads a team of cookies called the “Crunchy Squad”. Shooky is a prankster, likes to have fun with friends and make fun of them.

Shooky was created by Suga (Min Yoongi, 민윤기)

Cute products BT21

MANG: the mysterious dancer

Mang jhope hoseok bt21 kpop
Dancer Mang

Mang loves to dance (wherever there is music). Mang performs the best dance moves (especially Michael Jackson). His true identity is unknown due to the mask (a horse’s head with a heart-shaped nose) that he constantly wears.

Mang was created by J-Hope (Jung Hoseok 정호석)

Cute products BT21

CHIMMY: pure heart

Chimmy jimin bt21 kpop
Chimmy’s special attack: love laser

Chimmy is a character whose tongue is always outside. Chimmy wears his yellow hooded jumpsuit and works hard on anything that gets his attention. He does not know his past and loves the music of the harmonica.

Chimmy was created by Jimin (Park Jimin 박지민)

Cute products BT21

COOKY: cute and energetic fighter

COOKY jungkook bt21 kpop
Fighter Cooky

He admires his body “like a temple.” Cooky is a very cool, cute pink rabbit with a mischievous eyebrow and a white heart-shaped tail that wants to be strong. He loves boxing. Don’t let Cooky’s cheerful appearance fool you. It is hardy and persistent. Cooky is the friend you can always rely on!

Cooky was created by Jeon Jungkook (전 정국)

Cute products BT21

VAN: space guardian robot

Van bt21 bts kpop
Need help creating a carnival?

Van is a space robot, omniscient and wise. Half of its body is gray with an “x” shaped eye, and the other half is white with an “o” shaped eye.

Van, the defender of BT21, was created by Namjoon (RM) to represent the BTS fandom, ARMY

Cute products BT21

Creating BT21

Visit to the LINE STORE (episode 1)

In the first episode, we see BTS members who come to the LINE STORE studio.

BTS is going to create their own characters and put the maximum of their personality into them.

The name of this project, in which all BTS members participate, is called “Friends Creators”.

First, each member draw or sketch a character. Then the designers, professionals in their field, enter into the work and complete the images of the characters.

Start of the Friends Creators project - creating BT21
Start of the Friends Creators project – creating BT21
Jin creates his character alpaca photo bt21 bts
Jin creates his character alpaca
The first episode – the beginning of the creation of BT21

BT21 character design (episode 2)

BTS continues to draw. They try hard to make the characters individual, to make them more interesting. Taehyung asks everyone to make the most of their imagination:

Fans are not satisfied with just a cute appearance of the character!

The episode is filled with shots of laughter and smiles, as everyone begins to show what they are drawing. Now we know who in BTS is talented in drawing; others take out by charisma 😉

V нарисовал тата bt21 персонаж
V drew several versions of his alien with a heart-shaped head
чимин нарисовал чимми bts bt21
Jimin offers a kind of “potato” as a character
Episode Two – Design of BT21 characters

Presentation of each BTS member’s work (episodes 3 and 4)

After everyone had finished drawing, it was time to present the work of each BTS member.

So, it turned out the following:

  • Jin: RJ, alpaca
  • V: Tata, the alien
  • J-Hope: Mang, similar to a horse. Mang is derived from the Korean word “hui-mang”, meaning hope
  • Suga: Shooky, cookie
  • RM : Koya, koala
  • Jungkook : Cooky, there are normal and “muscular” versions of the character
  • Jimin: Chimmy is similar to a potato, in addition to the regular version, the military and flattened versions are drawn

The designers are impressed by the quality of the work of the BTS members.

The next step is the personal communication of each BTS member with the designers.

джей хоуп jhope нарисовал манга bt21
J-Hope presents a prototype of his character Mang
Шуга нарисовал Шуки bt21
Suga and Shooky (version 1)
Third episode – Characters presentation (part 1)
Jungkook Cooky bts bt21
Jungkook and Cooky
Jimin Chimmy bts bt21
Jimin and Chimmy
Episode four – Characters presentation (part 2)

Design on a tablet (episode 5)

The BTS were divided into 3 groups, judging by their drawing ability (team strong, medium and … charismatic :D)

Designers turn BTS sketches into professional ones on a graphic tablet.

It is at this time that the choice of character names takes place.

Convert Mang sketches made by J-Hope bt21 bts
Convert Mang sketches made by J-Hope
RJ, alpaca of Jin bt21 bts kpop
RJ, alpaca of Jin
Episode five – Design on a tablet

Drawing results on the tablet (episode 6)

The episode begins with a presentation of BTS drawings. Each participant was assisted by designers.

Some members of BTS wanted to play on the originality of the characters, for example, V said:

“I decided to give preference to the originality of the character, rather than its beauty!”

At first, BTS thought that everything that was happening was a competition, and only 3 characters would be selected for Line Friends. In fact, all the characters were accepted.

The project manager of “Friends Creators” suggests that BTS think about what kind of relationship story they want to offer their characters: friends, children, someone else?

Hoseok presents the Mang version bt21 bts
Hoseok presents the Mang version
Jimin presents a funny version of Chimmy bts bt21
Jimin presents a funny version of Chimmy
Episode six – Help from designers

Presentation of the final work (episode 7)

Professional designers have completed their work and present the results to the BTS members.

  • Taehyung (V) – TATA sees himself as a great celebrity with a resemblance to V
  • Namjoon (RM) – KOYA, the koala who always walks with a pillow
  • J-Hope – there is a big change compared to the first version of MANG
  • Jimin – CHIMMY constantly gets jokes about his appearance
  • Jungkook impressed the designers with his talent for drawing. 2 characters were created by Suga and Jungkook together: rabbit COOKY and cookie SHOOKY
  • Jin – RJ is a special alpaca that has a parka! Indeed, RJ can easily catch a cold

Taehyung thinks the result is cute bts smile bt21
Taehyung thinks the result is cute
charachtes bt21 bts kpop result
The result of the work

Characters and abilities of BT21 (episodes 8 and 9)

BTS share their opinions on the newly created characters.

Each BTS member goes to the board and describes their BT21 characters (smart, hardworking, etc.).

bts describe bt21
Each BTS member describes the character and superpowers of their BT21 character
Episode eight- Character selection of BT21 characters (part 1)
Episode nine – Character selection of BT21 characters (part 2)

Select the name and location of the meeting. Which BT21 character is the most beautiful? (episode 10)

After the BTS members have decided on the characters of the BT21 characters, they must choose the name of the group and the place of their meeting.

BTS can’t choose a name for a long time, but they are sure that it should contain the number “21”, which would represent the 21st century. 21 Millenium? Millenium friends? … Since they can’t decide, they prefer to focus on something else, such as where the BT21 characters meet and how attractive they are.

Rating of BT21 characters based on their attractiveness bts
Rating of BT21 characters based on their attractiveness

How were the BT21 characters created and how did each BTS member feel? Everyone talks about their feelings:

It was very interesting to watch how the characters developed

Namjoon (RM)

Mixing our ideas with the talent of designers is incredibly cool

Hoseok (J-Hope)

It’s amazing to realize that the resulting characters were created based on our ideas…as if they were our children

Jimin

I think the BT21 characters are similar to the BTS members, which is great

Jin

I created this character to please our fans… people above all are happy to see the originality in everything. They’re looking for something they haven’t seen in the past

Taehyung (V)

I hope people will understand that the BT21 characters include some of our ideas and beliefs

Jungkook

These characters are like our children. People should keep this in mind when they see them [ … ] BTS really tried to create a beautiful story for the BT21 characters

Suga
Episode ten – BTS revision and reviews

Final result and development of BT21 (episodes 11, 12 and 13)

The name BT21 is officially selected.

In the last 3 episodes, BTS showed BT21 merchandise, as well as animation for each character.

The character Van was also introduced. None of the BTS members drew it, but it was suggested to strengthen the bond between all the characters.

BT21 stickers for the Line app were introduced.

Each BTS member talks about their feelings about the project and wishes a great promotion to the BT21 characters, hoping that everyone will like them!

Toys and pillows BT21 bts
Toys and pillows BT21
Episode eleven – BT21 product review
Episode twelve – presentation of the character Van
Episode thirteen – Final score and best wishes for BT21

BT21 products

What are the BT21 products?

Various BT21 products are on sale: soft toys, pillows, keychains, bags, figures, etc…

Merch was also created in certain themes, such as space, travel, and for children.

Where to buy BT21 products?

BT21 products are available in the official Line Friends store, as well as on Amazon, Aliexpress.

buy kpop products bt21

Cute products BT21