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Characters and line of merchandise by South Korean artist Kang Byeong Mok From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Line Friends (stylized as LINE FRIENDS) are featured characters, invented by South Korean designer Kang Byeong Mok, based on the stickers from diverse applications of the South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation and the Japanese messaging app Line. Released in 2015, the characters are used in various products, animations, games, cafes, hotels and theme parks. In addition to its online presence, physical stores featuring Line Friends have opened in cities around the world. The brand has currently managed by its subsidiary Line Friends Corporation since 2015.[1][2][3][4][5]
This article needs to be updated. (October 2023) |
Type | Characters |
---|---|
Inventor | Kang Byeong Mok (South Korean Designer) |
Inception | 2011 |
Manufacturer | IPX Corporation Naver Corporation |
Available | Yes |
Website | www |
In January 2015, in order to further enhance the character brand value, the independent business LINE FRIENDS International Cartoon Image Brand Company was established, which is a subsidiary of NAVER. LINE FRIENDS has so far launched various cooperative products with international brands around the world in more than 5,000 character products, animations, games, cafes, restaurants, theme parks and other fields, and has launched various cooperative products in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Chengdu and Nanjing.[6] Hong Kong, Bangkok, Taipei, Seoul, Indonesia and other places to open physical stores.
In addition to the 11 popular characters that LINE stickers currently have, LINE FRIENDS' latest project "FRIENDS CREATORS" has jointly launched a new series of cartoon images with Korean idol group BTS and Chinese idol Wang Yuan. Currently, there are four series of cartoon characters: BT21,[7] ROY6,[8][9] WDZY and TRUZ.
The original Line characters were created by South Korean designer Kang Byeongmok, also known as "Mogi" in 2011.[10]
BT21 is the first presentation from FRIENDS CREATORS, a project formed to create new characters for the Line Friends series. South Korean boy group BTS was the first artist of this project,[15] and the main theme of the project is to show the connection between BTS and Line Friends in terms of popularity in the world. It comprises eight special characters created by South Korean boy group BTS.[16] The character designs were based on original ideas and sketches by the group's members.[17] Videos of BTS designing BT21 were uploaded to the official BT21 channel on YouTube.[18]
The name "BT21" is a combination of the group's name BTS and the 21st century. Member Suga commented that the name should represent both BTS and the 21st century, so they would live for the next 100 years.[citation needed]
BT21 was officially launched by Line Friends in October 2017.[19]
In 2023, IPX Corporation had the rights to BT21, while Line Friends had less than before. Owned the rights to BT21, while Line Friends has some rights.[citation needed]
ROY6 is a character brand created by Chinese Millennial idol Roy Wang, in collaboration with the global character brand, Line Friends.[21] China's first and world's second FRIENDS CREATORS project, Roy Wang participated in every step, starting from initial sketches and storytelling to product planning.[22] Videos of Roy Wang designing ROY6 are uploaded on the ROY6 YouTube Channel.[23]
ROY6 was officially released by Line Friends in November 2018.[citation needed]
Blackpink member Jisoo designed the new character named ChiChi, in collaboration with Nexon's kart racing game KartRider Rush+ and Line Friends. ChiChi is a rabbit character based on Jisoo's nickname "Tuttle Rabbit Kim," which is well-known by fans.[24]
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Two anime series, LINE OFFLINE and LINE TOWN, were produced in 2013, picturing the Line Friends as employees for the fictional Line Corporation.[25][26]
Line Offline is an animated series created by Shogakukan Productions, based on salaryman characters working at "Line Corporation". All 114 episodes last about three minutes. The series was aired from January 8, 2013, to October 1, 2013.[27]
The episodes of Line Offline are not connected. The idea behind the series is to represent the ordinary life of company employees (in this case Line's employees, hence the name "Line Offline"), in which every small problem could lead to awkward and hilarious situations that require some effort to restore the status quo.
Most characters from Line Offline are part of Line's universe (the characters who are shown in the animated series are also Line Friends, and can be seen by users in Line Messaging App and used as emoticons).
Episode No. | Title |
---|---|
1 | "Stare" |
2 | "Drowsy" |
3 | "Phone Calls" |
4 | "Complaints" |
5 | "Preso" |
6 | "Meeting" |
7 | "Snack" |
8 | "Sleepy" |
9 | "A Secret" |
10 | "Tired" |
11 | "Memory" |
12 | "Receipt" |
13 | "Lady Sally" |
14 | "Stomach Ache" |
15 | "Mask" |
16 | "Overtime" |
17 | "Fortunetelling" |
18 | "Magic" |
19 | "Physical Examination" |
20 | "Pressure" |
21 | "Surveillance" |
22 | "Diet" |
23 | "Security" |
24 | "Club" |
25 | "Souvenirs" |
26 | "Lunch" |
27 | "Bag" |
28 | "Battery" |
29 | "Cookies" |
30 | "Meeting" |
31 | "Dream" |
32 | "Cold" |
33 | "Stickers" |
34 | "Talents" |
35 | "Ice Cream" |
36 | "Office Lovers" |
37 | "Floating Tea Stalk" |
38 | "Trash Can" |
39 | "Garbage Can" |
40 | "Rice Ball" |
41 | "Tie" |
42 | "Summoned" |
43 | "Connie Glass" |
44 | "Mr. Moon Glass" |
45 | "The Manager Glass" |
46 | "Drinking Party" |
47 | "Mirror" |
48 | "Casters" |
49 | "Memory" |
50 | "Pranks" |
51 | "Security" |
52 | "Fart" |
53 | "Spilling Over" |
54 | "Original" |
55 | "The Ultimate Presentation Tip" |
56 | "I Don't Remember" |
57 | "Fortune" |
58 | "Intense! Haiku Club" |
59 | "The Boss Gives His All" |
60 | "Moon's Dirty Room" |
61 | "That Clinking Thing" |
62 | "Brown in the Restroom" |
63 | "Trashion Impossible" |
64 | "Ponnus Ponnu?" |
65 | "Prostration" |
66 | "The Cockroaches Strike Back" |
67 | "Loving the Centerfold" |
68 | "You're my Shangri-La" |
69 | "Love Those Masks" |
70 | "A Mixer with Flight Attendants" |
71 | "Ponnus Ponnu" |
72 | "Goodbye James, Part. 1" |
73 | "Goodbye James, Part. 2" |
74 | "Goodbye James, (Final Part)" |
75 | "Sally & the Dragon" |
76 | "Double Dragon" |
77 | "Outbreak" |
78 | "A Sticky Situation" |
79 | "Marital Fight" |
80 | "Welcome, Oil Baron" |
81 | "Sally's Psych Test" |
82 | "Consolation Party for Moon" |
83 | "Sally's Job" |
84 | "Curse of the Kokeshi Doll" |
85 | "A Saying He's Tempted to Use on Wednesday" |
86 | "Everyone's Wok" |
87 | "Umbrella of Kindness" |
88 | "You're not Going Home Tonight" |
89 | "Perfectionist" |
90 | "Moon's Secrets Exposed!" |
91 | "Just the Way Connie Is" |
92 | "Itching James" |
93 | "Boss! I Can't Hold It In!" |
94 | "Lovely Skin! Summer Makeup!" |
95 | "No Food was Wasted in the Making of This Episode" |
96 | "A Celebration for the Manager" |
97 | "Moon is Happy to Answer Any Question" |
98 | "Connie Does Her Best" |
99 | "A Trip to Hawaii for Two" |
100 | "Men Who Make Everyone Wet" |
101 | "Sally's Job 2" |
102 | "Who Wants to be a Zillionaire?" |
103 | "Oh Yeah! Let's Go to Atami!" |
104 | "A Heated Meeting" |
105 | "Intense Boss Story" |
106 | "The Marvelous Pudding That Always Sells Out!" |
107 | "The Private Life of a Capable Man" |
108 | "A Little-Known Horror Called Back Pain" |
109 | "A Little-Known Horror Called Money Issues" |
110 | "A Little-Known Horror Called Social Hierarchy" |
111 | "The Last Salaryman: Part One" |
112 | "The Last Salaryman: Part Two" |
113 | "The Last Salaryman: Part Three" |
114 | "The Making of The Last Salaryman" |
Episode No. | Title |
---|---|
1 | "Birthday" / "Hole" |
2 | "Salmon-chan" / "Party" |
3 | "Pinch" / "Smile" |
4 | "Reunion" / "Shadow" |
5 | "Divine" / "Art" |
6 | "Lottery" / "Quiz" |
7 | "Treasure" / "Siblings" |
8 | "Sleeping Habit" / "Diet" |
9 | "Bad Hair" / "Leader" |
10 | "Model" / "Hero" |
11 | "Mud Spheres" / "Ill-Faking" |
12 | "Scoop" / "Typhoon" |
13 | "Camp" / "Audition" |
14 | "Temptation" / "Babysitter" |
15 | "The Seventh" / "Devil Zombie" |
16 | "Friends" / "Salusa" |
17 | "Space (Part 1)" / "Space (Part 2)" |
18 | "Mister" / "Beach" |
19 | "Small" / "Big" |
20 | "Ice" / "Mr. Robot" |
21 | "Ninjas" / "Bottle Opener" |
22 | "Car" / "Jessica" |
23 | "Job" / "Insist" |
24 | "Where?" / "Train" |
25 | "Corn" / "Magic" |
26 | "Together" / "Playing Cards" |
27 | "Spies" / "Pirates" |
28 | "Judge" / "Broken" |
29 | "Once in Time" / "Happiness" |
30 | "Copies" / "Run Errands" |
31 | "Dorothy" / "Weather" |
32 | "Galaxy" |
33 | "Mr. Kinoko" / "Mountain Climbing" |
34 | "Musical" / "Evening" |
35 | "Good at Compliments" / "Apple" |
36 | "Cheerleaders" / "Part-Time" |
37 | "Stationary" / "Longing For" |
38 | "Can-Kicking" / "Upset" |
39 | "Father" (Line Town Christmas Special) |
40 | "Line Five" (Line Town Hero Special) |
41 | "Lake" / "Seed" |
42 | "Rickshaw" / "Dark Mr. Robot" |
43 | "Wild" / "Meatball" |
44 | "Beanstalk" / "Pie" |
45 | "Turnover" / "Hospitality" |
46 | "Line Five 2" (Line Town Hero Special 2) |
47 | "Secret" / "Deal With" |
48 | "Positive" / "Fake" |
49 | "Tiny" / "Son" |
50 | "Dice" / "Line Town" |
Line Rangers is an animated miniseries created to tie in with the Line Rangers mobile game, which featured the Line Friends characters. It originally premiered as shorts on the Line Global YouTube Channel in 2015. It was aired as a miniseries on Cartoon Network Korea[28] in July 2018. An English dubbed version went up on Amazon Prime[29] in North America on July 20, 2018. A Japanese dub which is broadcast on TV Tokyo.
On December 12, 2019, Netflix collaborated with Line Friends to create an original animated series based on the characters from Brown & Friends. All the episodes from the first season, including 3 special episodes based on seasonal occasions, such as Halloween and Christmas, released on December 29, 2022.
On May 15, 2023, it was announced that the fourth generation of the LINE Creators Support Program would inspire an anime television series adaptation that would premiere on CBC TV in 2024.[30]
Apart from its online store, physical stores have been opened in Hong Kong (Hysan Place), Chengdu (Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li), Nanjing (Katherine Park), Los Angeles (Hollywood Boulevard), and New York City (Times Square).[33][34][35]
The popularity of Line Friends in China surged in 2016. During that one year, six physical storefronts were opened. At one time, there were as many as twelve of them in different cities in China. As their segment of the market became increasingly crowded, however, Line Friends began to phase out its physical presence in China by closing down shops. As of May 2021, only the Chengdu and Nanjing stores remained open.[35]
On November 21, 2019, it was announced on the official Brawl Stars YouTube channel that Brawl Stars would collaborate with Line Friends, adding new skins based on Line Friends characters.[36]
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