K-pop group BTS is being immortalized in a Lego set inspired by their 2020 music video “Dynamite,” the band’s first U.S. No. 1 single.
What happened when BTS performed here in late 2021?
Lego’s new playset may not be smooth like butter — too many hard plastic edges — but it does bring to life one of the biggest boy bands in the world.
The 749-piece set includes multiple locations from the video, including its record store, donut shop, and disco. And, of course, trademark Lego minifigures of each member of the expansive 7-piece act.
Each location is detachable from the others, so you can create your own BTS mini-stories when you’re not teaming them up for a big group performance.
Watch BTS go Lego here:
Now go ahead and compare it with the actual “Dynamite” music video and see if it lives up to all of your K-pop dreams:
The set was designed by members of the public as part of the Lego Ideas initiative, where amateur designers can submit potential Lego sets and people vote on the ones they like best. The design went viral overnight, one of the creators said in a Lego press release — it quickly hit 10,000 views in Lego Ideas voting.
The project was submitted by builders identified by Lego as Josh and Jacob, aka JBBrickFanatic and BangtanBricks. They describe their workflow in a press release by noting Jacob provided the BTS expertise, while Josh created the set design.
“As a massive BTS fan, I told him what needed to be in it, what details were most important,” Jacob said in the release.
“I watched the music video over and over and tried to capture its essence in the Lego bricks,” Josh added.
Fans don’t just get the glory — designers whose projects get selected for production by Lego Ideas receive 1% of the net sales, plus 10 complimentary copies of the physical set. It’s being produced as part of Lego’s Adults Welcome line, an effort to acknowledge the bricks’ appeal to those who may only be a kid at heart.
While Lego takes the ideas and has their own in-house designers tweak them to create the best set possible, Lego Product Group head Federico Begher said they tried to keep this one close to that original vision.
“The BTS fans have already got behind the design and so it was important that we were as faithful to the original creation as possible,” Begher said.
But how will the band’s little minifig hands make those iconic finger hearts, or break out into Michael Jackson-inspired choreography? We may need some new custom parts — or just the power of our imaginations.
The project may be cold comfort to all the BTS stans out there. The group recently announced a hiatus, taking a break until 2025 as members pursue solo projects, as well as serving mandatory military service in their home nation of South Korea. But you’ll be able to see Suga on a solo tour this May before he begins to serve in the military, with three shows at Inglewood’s Kia Forum serving dance.
You can purchase the set starting March 1, available online at Lego.com and at Lego retail stores — it’ll cost you $99.99. It’s on the lower end pricewise for Lego Ideas sets, as 2022’s lineup ranged from $79.99 for Sonic the Hedgehog’s Green Zone to $299.99 for a motorized lighthouse.
If you want to dive deeper into the world of K-pop, be sure to check out the second season of LAist Studios' California Dreaming podcast, K-Pop Dreaming — it premieres next week on Thursday, Feb. 23.
You can also watch BTS’s memorable Los Angeles concert from their Permission To Dance tour on Disney+.
