How did BTS create their BT21 characters?

BTS fans now have a new collection to acquire! That’s because BT21 has invaded McDonald’s and the seven characters created by the group’s members have gained collectible versions sold separately or in combos from the fast food chain. Check out the announcement!

But do you know how the BT21 characters were created? To understand, it is necessary to remember that these figures appeared in 2017 through a collaboration between the BIGHIT MUSIC group and the Line messaging application, giving rise to the Line Friends Creators project for the Line Friends line, which has existed since 2015.

The idea was for the septet to create different characters, assigning the characteristics and personalities of each of the figures that would be transformed not only into stickers for the app, but also into animations, games, plush toys, various products and even stars, since the BT21 characters debuted their own music video in 2023.

With that in mind, all that was left was to get to work. This happened at the end of September 2017, when the group visited a LINE Friends store. There, a team of designers helped the idols finalize their ideas so that they could soon come to life on screen.

First, the idols were able to transfer ideas that previously only existed in their imagination onto paper using black markers. This is how they came up with:

TATA — An alien who possesses supernatural powers and a hyperplastic body that stretches to great lengths. He, who was created by Vis also known as the crown prince on Planet BT.

RJ — The kind and gluttonous alpaca drawn by Jinwhich as revealed by the idol himself, is a figure he used to draw frequently and an animal he is always compared to.

CHIMMY — The dog in the yellow sweatshirt who is always ready to work that took shape through the ideas of Jimin.

COOKY — The pink rabbit designed by Jungkook who despite his cute appearance, wants to be seen as someone strong, appeared in one of the initial sketches with a ripped abdomen.

Although this version never made it to the big screen, the character works out a lot and imagines transforming into a muscular man when he gets angry.

MANG — The cute squirrel wearing a pony mask had sketches of J-Hopeand just like the idol, he is a great dancer.

SHOOKY — The playful cookie that was born from sketches of Sucks.

KOYA — The talented and sleepy koala, created by the leader of BTS: RM.

Once the characters were defined, the drawings gained digital versions, where, in addition to the already known lines, the first colors for the characters were tested.

The entire creation process was documented and can be watched on BT21’s YouTube channel in a series of 13 episodes, where it is possible to see that from the beginning, COOKY was thinking with the pink hue, RJ already wore a bandana around his neck and TATA wore the iconic blue outfit with polka dots.

It is worth noting that, in the initial phase of the project, the idea of Sucks was the one that underwent the most modifications. This is because the idol had thought of a character inspired by his dog, Holly. However, SHOOKY ended up looking very similar to other existing characters, so it was necessary to adapt the figure.

Thus, the expressions created by were used Sucksbut the character’s appearance came about by LINE designers from a drawing of Jungkook in which COOKY appeared accompanied by a biscuit, making SHOOKY a playful cookie who hates milk.

In addition to the seven characters created by BTS members, VAN, a type of robot that wants to protect BT21, was also designed. Made by Line Friends designers, the character represents ARMY, as the group’s fandom is called.

Check out more details in the series: