We’re still talking about BTS, this time we will discuss their fanbase; Adorable Representative M.C for Youth (or in short ARMY (아미) ). This includes every country in the world and not just Korean fans; and let us tell you there are MILLIONS of them. We picked up some statistics but that doesn’t mean there are not many more in the world..
The ARMY numbers on social media are staggering with 3.39 million followers, 3.4 million followers and 3.7 million subscribers just on Instagram, Twitter and Youtube we haven’t even counted fans in their official fanclub or the people who haven’t followed them for whatever reason. All in all BTS is huge and growing every single day.
We discussed BTS in our previous post but today I would like to talk just ARMY,
If every single date on the us and eu tour selling out isn’t cue for how big they are let me tell you that there are a lot of fans who can not go because it sold out so fast.
As an ARMY myself, I sat in front of the computer and had half a mental breakdown with how stressful buying a ticket for the Amsterdam show was. But I’ve been watching everyone on Twitter and Facebook connect, protecting each other from scammers and trading tickets so friends can sit together. There’s an age restriction on the shows, everyone below 18 needs to have an 18+ guardian with them and a lot of 18+ are volunteering to take younger ARMY inside to their spots but also a lot of them are arranging to meet up so at least the seated ARMY can all come together and have fun together before and during the shows.
The start of an ARMY
A month after BTS debuted they announced their fandom name to be ARMY (아미) but why that you might think? As explained in our previous post, BTS was short for Bangtan Sonyeondan; Bulletproof Boy Scouts and their logo was a body armor because 방탄 (bangtan) means body armor. In their explanation military and shields will always be together. BTS and their fanbase will always be together as one.
The longer name Adorable Representative M.C for Youth was designed to fit their goal.
In 2017/2018 a new logo was introduced for both BTS and ARMY, in which both logo’s can be put together and form a shield, connecting ARMY and BTS even more.
ARMY bomb
It’s very normal for Korean groups to have a lightstick of their own, If you have no idea what a lightstick is, it’s a sort of flashlight with the band’s logo on it. They usually design a new one every now and again. It is an absolutely important key in live shows, it’s called an ‘Ocean’ no matter what color, every single lightstick represents one fan. This means the artist can visually spot them. It’s also usually used in live shows with multiple artists, as usually each artist has their own light color or shape and the artist corresponding with that lightstick can adress his or her fans directly.
BTS’ offical lightstick is called the ARMY BOMB, it’s shaped as a traditional bomb with the lint on top but the outside of the translucent ball shows the world. Unlike many others, BTS’ light stick is the brightest of all lightsticks! It also has an Bluetooth build in connecting every single ARMY BOMB to the stage lighting. so they’re able to control your light!
Another thing connected to BTS, ARMY and ARMY bombs are fan chants. These are also very important, besides from chanting each member before the singing parts of the song start they will always do the fan chant. During the song there are also parts repeated or sung together with BTS. I’d like to refer you to YouTube to practice before the shows!
https://youtu.be/eN9D09dn3Kw
Theories
As I said in my previous posts, BTS tell a story with their music and videos joining those songs. However when they released HYYH 1 and 2, they started telling these stories for real but never really explaining them. There’s an entire happening beyond the scene (wink wink) where ARMY try to figure out all the hints. It’s a massive puzzle and super interesting. If you go to The Bangtan Theory you can read up until now, for the new album however you’ll have to hit up the BTS fanpages!
Purple Ribbon Project
When BTS arrived at the Gimpo airport in Korea in 2017 fans absolutely swarmed them, causing Jimin to trip and J-Hope to be bruised on the wrist. It’s stressful for both fans and the group when these things happen so an 36-year old ARMY from Florida took matters in her own hands when they were coming to America and wanted to give the boys and the fans a safe landing. She created the Purple Ribbon Project.
They would achieve this by finding ARMY volunteers to create a barrier between BTS and ARMY by holding hands in a line and holding the purple ribbon. Everyone was asked to be respectful towards everyone there and they did.
The reason for using a purple ribbon came from BTS themselves. Purple has a meaning to it and V (Taehyung) expressed it in the following words “Purple is the last colour of the rainbow’s colours. Purple means I will trust and love you for a long time”.
Even in an interview BTS mentioned it and V has been seen carrying a piece of purple ribbon with him on the red carpet.
Now when they’re coming to Europe I know a dutch ARMY reached out to the Purple Ribbon Project, and together with the American ARMY they’re creating the same project.
You can find their project on Facebook
Continuing this post in another one, where we interview some ARMY and the purple ribbon group! so stay tuned.
For now please enter the poll, there is also a giveaway coming up! (NO not concert tickets because we’re just as poor as you are 🙁 ) but something else BTS! We’re just waiting for it to arrive!.
