BTS Emojis: Community, Codes, and uh...Cryptids

Stanning BTS comes with steep learning curve. One of the things that's initially confusing is all the shorthand used by everyone. At first, Lia and new Afternoona Army International Correspondent, Lexi Jessop, were baffled by the jungles of animal emojis used to discuss BTS. We've now come to appreciate that emojis are great example of symbiotic relationship between BTS and Army: They serve as code, which creates fuzzy feelings like belonging and complicity, shorten and standardize member names on social media, fit within character limits, and have same meaning for i-army, and simplify subtitling. So how did we get here? And do we agree on the conventions? Lexi has mixed feelings on Min Young being a cat, Lia strongly feels that a chipmunk is nothing like a squirrel, and is V ultimately a tiger? A bear? Or is it sort of perfect that he's both?  Fun bonus: We share the World Wide Handsome origin story. Show Notes:Early tweet from the official BTS account with the emojis representing members (translated)Making of the BT21 characters: [BT21] BT21 UNIVERSE 1 (Namjoon says koalas are cute, Jungkook tells Hobi he looks like a horse)The masks J-Hope had to wear because ????? (he is really, really, good looking)Jimin makes a bracelet, agrees that his mouth looks like a beak (except it doesn’t): [BTS VLOG] Jimin l 팔찌공방 VLOGV’s bear-tiger cryptid appears in this article: BTS’s V Ends ARMY’s Hot Debate About Him In The Best Way (Koreaboo)Taehyung makes for a convincing monkeyJungkook's terrifying swole bunnyThe Double Bunny: BTS Is Ready To Break The Internet With These New Hand Gestures (Jungkook’s eyes tho…)Lexi listened to Heartbeat and Sexy Nukim (Balming Tiger, Omega Sapien, bj wnjn, Mudd the student, RM)