ARMY (BTS)

ARMY is the name given to the worldwide K-pop fanclub of K-pop group BTS. It stands for Adorable Representative MC for the Youth. In Korean, the name is 아미. It holds special meaning since the word "army" is associated with the military and body armor, which goes along with BTS's larger concept of being protectors and speakers for today's youth.
ARMY is known for its international philanthropy in humanitarian causes like environmental clean up, tree planting, and school building. Their numbers are powerful, being capable of charting music high without industry support and overwhelming voting websites. On the other hand, it is also known as toxic and obsessive with invasive sasaeng-like fan behaviors.
==Membership==
ARMY membership is subject to the discretion of each individual fan. There is an official membership one can buy, provided by BigHit Entertainment. However, many fans don't buy the official membership and still consider themselves an ARMY.
==Origin==
ARMY was officially established on July 9, 2013 with the first recruitment under BigHit Entertainment.
===2013===
ARMY's numbers were relatively small during this time. BTS were known as a nugu group, which means a group that is not well-known or famous. Although ARMY was small, it had many international fans from outside of South Korea due to BTS's music encompassing genres such as hip hop and rap.
===2014===
ARMY was still relatively small during this time.
The fandom established a monthly selca day called #ARMYSelcaDay to share selfies and other photos of themselves with fellow fans on Twitter. Many fans enthused about releases such as BTS' WE ON Webtoon, member birthdays, and music releases.
===2015===
ARMY began to grow in this year due to the release of BTS' The Most Beautiful Moment in Life pt. 1 mini-album that featured a popular title track song called "I NEED U." This mini-album established the Bangtan Universe. BTS won their first music show award with this song, which ARMYs gathered to vote for across social media platforms. Songs such as Dope were also popular internationally, gaining BTS solid fanbases on website such as Tumblr and Twitter.
This year, the #PlagarismBoys Controversy also happened.
===2016===
ARMY grew quickly this year due to releases such as BTS' "Run" and "Blood, Sweat, & Tears."
ARMY faced its largest fanwars against EXO-Ls during this year. Events such as BTS GDA Black Ocean 2016, May "Terror" Month of 2016, and Break Wings Project happened.
===2017===
BTS made their American debut with their song DNA from their mini-album Love Yourself: Her which gained critical acclaim worldwide and is seen as their breakout into the west. To celebrate the band's fourth anniversary, fans purchased a Time Square billboard to display congratulatory messages. 
===2018===
====White Paper Project====
* 
* 
===2019===
====Purple Carpet====
* @Highlight_Army Twitter account - Organizer
* ARMY Choice Awards Website
===2020===
* Armed in ARMY: A Case Study of How BTS Fans Successfully Collaborated to MatchAMillion for Black Lives Matter
===2021===
==Donations==
* 
==Fandom Culture==
* BTS Army Wives by Wong Fu Productions - parody of the phenomenon after BTS enlisted, relatively well recieved (?) by the fandom
==Fanfiction Culture==
===Archive of Our Own===
The most hit work on Archive of Our Own in the BTS category is House of Cards. The most kudo'd work is The Songbird and the Sea. Other popular works include UKIYO and Wonder (BTS Story).
Popular tags for ARMYs on Archive of Our Own are Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, College AU, Modern AU, and Canon Compliant.
===Tumblr===
On Tumblr, ARMYs are organized into networks and typically write y/n fanfiction. A small handful of active writers write the majority of fanfiction on Tumblr and fanfiction is shared through recommendation lists and network tags.
==Relationship with other Fandoms==
===BLINKS===
The BLINK and ARMY fandoms have a strained relationship due to competition in streaming, sales, and popularity.
===Directioners===
When BTS passed One Directions records, there was some beef with One Direction singer Liam Payne and Directioners.
===EXO-Ls===
* See ARMY vs. EXO-L Fandom Wars
=== 1st and 2nd Gen kpop fandoms ===
Many English-speaking fanbases of groups that predated BTS have frequently come into conflict with ARMY due to the popularity of the claim "BTS paved the way." Many fans of these groups believe this claim delegitimizes the accomplishments and successes of earlier artists. 
==Controversy and Criticisms==
===Massive threads by BTSARMY against the racist actions of radio host Matthias 'Matuschke' Matuschik===
In February 2021, the German radio host Matthias Matuschik made comments on his local, government-funded German radio program about the [K-pop] group BTS.
Matuschik hosts a small weekly, program segment on the regional public Bavarian radio station Bayern3 which is completely in German, where he made a comment about the band regarding a cover-version of the Coldplay song "Fix You" in which he likened the K-POP wave and BTS to a virus and that he wished that the K-POP trend is over soon "(...)Some crap virus, for which there will hopefully soon be a vaccination as well." and called the band members "these small pisser".
The character of the programm which marketed as "Matuschke – der etwas andere Abend" ["Matuschke - the somewhat different evening"] and according to one of the statement issued by the radio station that it is "the hallmark of this show and also of the presenter to express his opinion clearly, openly and unvarnished. "
Soon enough, English-speaking BTS Fans started trending hashtags against Matuschik on Twitter as well against the radio station Bayern 3 and called Matuschik and his comment racist. They asked for an apology by Matuschik and Bayern 3.
Both Matuschik and the radio station released two statements, even available in English, but the BTSArmy still wanted Matuschik fired (#Matuschik_OUT, #MatuschikMussWeg, trending hashtags like #Bayern3Racist that called that Matischik and Bayern3 racist.
Matuschik received "serious threats" against himself and his family following the incident, according to a Bayern3 statement, and he had to set his personal Twitter Account to private.
After a large part of the German news coverage that reported about the incident sided with Bayern 3 decision to side with Matuschik, ARMY, western celebrities (MAX and Steve Aoki), journalists, radio hosts (JJ Ryan) and Asian activists in both America and Germany deemed Matuschik's and the station's statements and apologies inadequate to the damage they've done to not only BTS, but to Asian people at large. ARMYs, with the help of journalists and activists, started trending hashtags on Twitter for several weeks to bring attention to the racism condone by the German media. (#GermanMediaRacist or #GermanMEDIA_racism).
Some BTSARMY Twitters also hijacked the #imnotanvirus hashtag in the controversy, which was created for whole another purpose one year prior.
With the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes worldwide due to COVID-19 and this event with BTS, German ARMY fanbases contacted and are working with local activists to support Asian-German organizations against anti-Asian racism in Germany. They trended hashtags and keywords. (#NOtoRacism, #WeCantBeSilenced and KEEP FIGHTING, WE WON'T GIVE UP) They have also shared resources about anti-Asian racism in Germany and links to donation drives to organizations working to bring awareness to the hardships of Asian people in Germany.
Contrary to the US, there was no significant rise in physical attacks against Asian population in Germany after the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, as published by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb) and that Asian immigrants were generally viewed as more positive than other groups.
===Spam replying of "Fancams" on Twitter to unrelated twitter posts and threads===
BTS Fans and K-POP fans in general are known to post unrelated pictures of K-POP artists and gifs to random twitter posts and threads, which is an against Twitter rules since it disrupts people’s experience on Twitter and can be reported by Twitter users as spam.
===2021 Award cycle in the western world===
BTS broke many records in 2021 with the help of Army, who often see the success of their idols as a reflection of the fandoms hard work and effort. Sales of their albums caused Dynamite to skyrocket up the charts in a way other fans felt was 'inauthentic' or 'bought'. The common Army justification is that the placing is justified because it reflects Army's love for BTS.
* 2021 Billboard awards, unpopular opinion thread
When BTS' Dynamite was nominated but did not win at the 2021 Grammy Awards, Army lashed out at the grammys with the hashtag #scammys
===See also===
* BTS fan advertisement on ao3
* An explanation of the may “terror” month of 2016 aka the series of anti-fan attacks against bts
* ARMY vs. EXO-L Fandom Wars
==Further Reading/Meta==
* BTS's Virtual Rudeness in BTS World Is Making ARMYs Want to Quit Being Their Manager bY SARA DELGADO, JUNE 27, 2019, teenvogue.com
* Why BTS ARMY Is The Worst Fandom In KPOP?
* What are some of the worst things that BTS fans (Army) have done? on Quora
* BTS ARMY: The Worst Music Fans EVER by Kavos
* How BTS mania spawned a toxic K-pop fanbase that attacked me online by Zachary KussinMay 18, 2019
==References==
Category:BTS
Category:K-Pop Fandom Glossary