Just in the same way that I conveniently forgot to report when Mattel announced their Jersey Shore board game because it’s not Uno: The Movie, the same occurred when they revealed their collaboration with Korean Boy Band, BTS. It’s nothing person, BTS, it’s just we have to know thine reader, and while I may think you’re pretty-pretty, the Toy Wizards audience is more into Optimus Prime than Jeon Jung-kook.
Though both of them have beautiful smiles.
The long and short is that BTS is a Korean pop band (KPOP to the culture at large) that is explosively popular. Their Instagram alone has 16 million followers. It’s madness, I tell you.
Just like seeing anime toys at the Dollar Tree, it’s incredible to me that KPOP has reached the mainstream levels of popularity that it has. As someone who has always had a love for Japanese Rock (JROCK), I would flip my lalala if all of a sudden there were L’arc-en-Ciel or Gackt dolls released by Mattel. We really live in an amazing time for international bands and fans.
While we’re not sure whether or not Mattel will sell their BTS dolls in US retails stores, they’ll likely have a resource for fans to find their seven KROCK figures. They’ve started teasing them like crazy, and each of the images has elicited nearly 50,000 likes and responses on Instagram since.
So while this oldie over here may have received her early KPOP education from DDR 3rd Mix Korean Edition where artists like Lee Jung Hyun and Baek Ji Young reigned supreme (and no one can replace HOT’s ‘We Are The Future‘ as the pinnacle peak in KPOP boy band deliciousness), we are in a fascinating place in our ‘Asian-Invasion’ pop culture consumption. I hope this monster continues to grow.
We will see more by the fan response and how well these dolls sell in the upcoming weeks.