As BTS is one of the biggest music acts ever, it’s not unheard of that they would be given the animation treatment.
Early in the members’ careers, we had the Hip Hop Monster Characters, including a Webtoon. It featured RM as a duck, Jin as a wolf, Suga as a turtle, J-Hope as a horse, Jimin as a cat, V as a monkey, and Jungkook as a bunny.
Three years later, BTS collaborated with LINE FRIENDS for the new BT21 characters. The members self-designed their characters, which have become representative of them. So, RM created KOYA the koala, Jin created RJ the alpaca, Suga created SHOOKY the cookie, J-Hope created MANG the masked pony, who is now revealed to be a chipmunk, Jimin created CHIMMY the puppy, V created TATA the alien, and Jungkook created COOKY the bunny.
In 2019, BIGHIT MUSIC launched the TinyTAN brand. It features the members as themselves but as chibi characters.
Similarly, you can see cute versions of BTS in their mobile game BTS Island: In the SEOM.
We can’t forget the BTS version of Cooke Run: Kingdom, which included cookie versions of the members!
BTS have also been given the Webtoon treatment a few times now. After Hip Hop Monster, there was Save Me, which is part of the BTS Universe (BU), inspired by The Most Beautiful Moment in Life (HYYH) series.
Recently, Webtoon 7Fates: CHAKHO was released. The BTS members loosely inspired it.
If you remember the BTS Universe Story app, you could create and read original stories starring BTS. It included animated versions of the members that looked a lot like them.
So, BTS have quite a few different animated versions of themselves now. Yet, a new one has appeared, and ARMYs are alarmed by just how much it doesn’t look like them!
An image of animated versions of the BTS members began making its rounds on social media recently. It has sparked conversation as ARMYs laughed over the members’ appearances. They commented that many were unrecognizable.
i fixed the ugly bts animation pic.twitter.com/TNpSmW7EdI
— adri h✦pe (@heartsminsuga) July 23, 2023
@sa3h33 please
♬ original sound – Sa3
Most ARMYs agreed that J-Hope was difficult even to identify as it looked nothing like him. Some even suggested he looked like an alternate version of RM.
was a picture of hoseok even in the room dawg… pic.twitter.com/UVD5ne9JnN
— Terra ✰⋆ (@54hrtz) July 23, 2023
like that’s literally joon in a different font… DPMO pic.twitter.com/jQdbabvPEF
— mani⁷
(@strwbrryoongii) July 23, 2023
Likewise, some ARMYs thought Jimin looked hardly like the idol. Instead, they suggested it was ’90s teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
why does “jimin” look so much like tiny jonathan taylor thomas?? https://t.co/ePiW76yOef pic.twitter.com/XYmliGRx9l
— claudia
(@devout_jinnist) July 23, 2023
When did Jonathan Taylor Thomas join BTS? pic.twitter.com/sQ8sj7Oftz
—
VSquad⁷
BULLETPROOF
(@VSquad23) July 23, 2023
On the other hand, some found what they believe to be the source of inspiration for this animated Jin. Although, we can all agree it’s giving jumpscare.
It’s him https://t.co/LyIYKk3S6P pic.twitter.com/Z1HsAh88xB
— seokjin⁷ (@ohhmyseok) July 23, 2023
The biggest mystery of all is who created this “art” of BTS. Where did it come from? No ARMY seems to know, and no one has confessed it is theirs.
@joseochoatv Im serious when i ask, who did this? Where did this come from? And why? Whats going on? Hello???? —————————————————— #greenscreenvideo #fyp #foryou #trending #viral #genshinimpact #bts #btsarmy #ai #bangtan #rm #namjoon #suga #yoongi #jin #jhope #jimin #v #taehyung #jungkook #funny #creepy #wtf #kpop #kpopfyp
♬ original sound – JoseOchoaTV
If you do a reverse search of it on Google, very few things come up, except a few reposts on Twitter, Tiktok, Facebook, and Theqoo. However, the animation style appears very similar to that of AI generators.
For now, the mystery behind the “cursed” BTS image remains unsolved, but AI looks like a likely suspect.
