ARMYPEDIA: ARMY UNITED in SEOUL

HEY, ARMY! LOST THIS?

by

Shinara Hussain

Unless ARMYs have been visiting another galaxy, they will be aware of ARMYPEDIA. The global scavenger hunt chronicling 2080 days of BTS from debut on 13th June 2013 until 21st February (my birthday!) 2019; which is when the website went live. International ARMY have always asked for BigHit to enable us to be involved in events, and they gave us ARMYPEDIA. I can appreciate the months of planning, and cost that must have gone into this; it has been a huge endeavour and they have managed to run it successfully. An added bonus was finding out that BTS themselves set the quiz questions.

Source: ARMYPEDIA

Big Hit announced there were 2080 "puzzle pieces", hidden both online and offline all across the world, that fans would need to track down. Each one comes with a QR code which ARMY need to scan to unlock the piece on the website. Once that's done, we have the opportunity to answer a quiz question which then leads us to a specific memory in BTS' history. ARMY is then invited to post their own memory of the date on the site. The first puzzle piece teased fans with "Hey, ARMY! Lost this?" which in turn lead us to BTS' debut.

On March 10th 2019, ARMYPEDIA held their 1st offline event, a gathering of ARMY's; titled RUN ARMY in ACTION! at Seoul Plaza. 

Source: ARMYPEDIA

The event was completely free, and open to 5th term fan club membership subscribers.  Knowing that BTS were not going to be in attendance did not stop 10,000 fans to take part in reminiscing about BTS' history together.

Source: ARMYPEDIA

Dedicated ARMY's came together to answer quiz questions, watched concert clips on the giant screen that had been erected, as they sang along to the songs and did the fan chants, while waving their Army bombs (light sticks). 

Showing their love for not only BTS, but each other, bonding and making new memories together; proving that ARMY is not just a fandom, but a family.

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

Of the event BigHit stated that RUN ARMY in ACTION was "a meaningful experience and place for fans to share BTS' message and memories together".

As the event came to a close it was revealed that the next offline event ARMY UNITED in SEOUL, on 23rd March, would be live streamed across the globe. So international fans who lamented at not being present in Seoul could also join in, and so this one did!

Waking up in the early hours, nothing new when it comes to any BTS content in the UK, I eagerly opened up YouTube and watched the countdown to the live stream as the Intro to Skool Luv Affair album played. I watched as Army's took up their seats at Seoul Plaza once again.

The stream went live, opening on a clip of ARMYPEDIA, the collection of cards, the 1st card showing BTS' debut date, spins and opens on ARMY UNITED in SEOUL, and RM's voice welcomes us. The rest of the members then go through the rules in taking part in the quiz, which starts off with DNA.

The quiz format is the same as the online quiz. We watched clips of their MV's and then answered questions based on what we had seen. Fan's at the event answered by holding up banners they had, either white or purple, while I "danced" in bed and silently shouted the answers in my head!

About 26 minutes into the stream BTS appeared on screen for the next part of the event, the BTS Talk Show segment.

They spoke about looking back at their history along with ARMY, and the ARMYPEDIA entries.

They laughed as they looked back at their debut and Namjoon saying "Let's check out that constellation together!"

referring to how their scars and mistakes made up their constellation; meanwhile Yoongi remarks "Why is everyone so angry?" as they all step out of the school bus in No More Dream.

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

From their debut, through to their 1st win for I NEED U, commenting on Jimin crying. The clips progress to their 1st Daesang, and they comment on how they have grown, to the change in quality of their MV's. We see them going to America and Jhope mentions about them being global. Fake Love then comes on and he mentions winning at the Korean Music Awards. The clips speed through the BBMA's, the UN address, the MMA performance; which brought reactions that showed how proud they were of that. They could see themselves growing up on the screen, and just how far they had come.

At the end of the clips Namjoon drops a surprising bit of information regarding the fandom name, and how we may have ended up being called "Army of the Bells", BANGWOOL! I will thank all the stars in the galaxy for that not coming to fruition... I shall forever remain an Adorable Representative MC for Youth.

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

As a gift for ARMY taking part in ARMYPEDIA, BTS performed their debut song. JHope mentions being nervous as it wouldn't be the same as their debut performance. However they had nothing to be nervous about.
What they delivered was a low key, stripped back performance show casing their voices, with a Live Band version of No More Dream.
They proved once again just how versatile they are as artists, and being able to adapt to any style. Stripping down the performance, they removed everything most reviewers focus on, the fact that they dance very well; and yet they still wowed us by just sitting on chairs and using their voices.

Source: YouTube

You can hear how much they have all improved as singers, as the song sounds so much smoother; and it was nice hearing Jimin singing in a lower range.

After this performance BTS also took part in answering quiz questions about themselves; and naturally it quickly turned chaotic, as all their games inevitably do! It's always great to see their dynamics in these games...and it's always great to see Yoongi joking around and see his light-hearted side more often.

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

Yoongi was gifted the prize from the quiz, which he didn't seem to happy about. What was the gift? To be the focus of the end track self cam! This was uploaded approx 22 hrs after the end of streaming, which you can view on BANGTANTV.

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

After the quiz segment BTS perform Just One Day. Again it was a more stripped back performance which allowed their vocals to shine, and the harmonising, and high notes between Jungkook and Jimin were fantastic; Tae's vocals were like velvety chocolate, and the clarity in Jin's; just beautiful. Again, you could hear how the quality of their singing has improved since this song was first released. And Namjoon's question of "Would you please stay with me?" at the end, I think Tae answered for all ARMY's with his "OK".

Source: YouTube

The last segment of the BTS Talk Show was about BTS wanting to know ARMY's opinions. Upon Namjoon asking What do you want to ask ARMY, Yoongi's response was "I want to know how long everyone's big toes are"... the man knows the important things in life! 🤣🤣🤣

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

Of course Namjoon had to then clarify what he meant was asking ARMY what was their favourite choreography for their title tracks. Each member tried to guess which would come out on top, and Yoongi was methodical in his thinking when saying as there are many new fans, it would probably be one of their newer tracks like Idol or Fake Love.
Tae, has my heart with his favourite... the boy is a whole intellectual! You, of course don't have to agree with us!

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

The 2nd question they asked  was which song ARMY would like to watch performed at a concert. Jhope telling them to make sure they spell properly as it was in his name! They then proceed to read out ARMY's keyboard smashes. 🤣
ARMY may recall 'JHope' asking these questions on FanCafe, leading to speculation as to why he was asking these, perhaps they were going to be performing them on the Speak Yourself tour?
BTS seemed genuinely surprised at some of the choices that ARMY's made, such as, Come Back Home, Ddaeng, Let Go, Don't Leave Me, and Sea. Do they not realise how much we love these songs? How can they not?
The top 3 songs turned out to be Sea, Love Maze and Young Forever. Namjoon's thanking ARMY for choosing Sea tugged at the heart. We know how much that song means to them, what the lyrics stand for, and it would be an amazing song to hear performed at a concert. Jungkook then teased that there could be a better song on the new album! Between that and the other members hinting how this album is great with something different... it is increasing ARMY anticipation to a fever pitch.

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

After talks of breakfasts and Mukbangs they began to wrap up the BTS Talk Show, but not before mentioning the fact that they will be doing stadium tours, and specifically mentioning Wembley Stadium! 😮

Source: BANGTANTV (YouTube)

Jungkook then sent out his wish to the universe of BTS winning a Grammy, while Tae and Jimin thanked ARMYs. The members asked us to look forward to the new album, before ending the show with a fun performance of I Like It.

Source: YouTube

The stream then cuts back to Seoul Plaza and Army's who were watching along, and we see them holding up their banners to form BTS and ARMY's logos.

Source: ARMYPEDIA

There was a message from RM at the end of the show, which was as follows:

ARMY UNITED in SEOUL ended with a sing-a-long session. A huge cheer erupted when the lyrics to Ddaeng appeared on the screen. Watching and hearing 10,000 ARMY's enthusiastically joining in just made me want to hear the track being performed at a concert live!

The enthusiastic cheers for the next song, Cypher pt.3 was just as loud; then followed a remix of I NEED U and Magic Shop. The event ended with a uplifting rendition of Answer: Love Myself.

It was a fun event to join, and I can imagine it would be even better being able to attend personally. It was nice of BigHit to live stream it so that international ARMY could feel involved, and you never know, this could have been them just testing the waters. Perhaps one day they might hold live events like this in other countries, you never know!

*Update - all the puzzle pieces have been found and the puzzle is now complete. However you can still scan the QR codes and answer the quiz questions to collect points. See the complete puzzle below:

Between this and the Save Me webtoon, we know that HYYH era is significant.
What are your theories? 

If you attended the event or if you're an international ARMY like me and you'd like to write about your experience, or if you have any other ideas you would like  to write about, then please feel free to leave a comment, alternatively you can send an email to shinara.btsradiouk@gmail.com