The Kim Nam-joon celebrity doll depicts him as RM (Rap Monster), a rapper and leader of the South Korean K-pop group BTS managed under Big Hit Entertainment. Kim Tae-hyung is a singer and songwriter/producer and solo artist.  The doll was made by Mattel in 2019 and is one of seven in  BTS collection styled after their appearance in the BTS music video “Idol” released in August 2018.  

The IDOL dolls were released at a retail price of $22.95 each in late July 2019 and include the seven group members:

• • RM – Kim Nam-joon – Prestige doll, IDOL doll
  • Jin – Kim Seok-jin – Prestige doll, IDOL doll
  • SUGA – Min Yoon-gi – Prestige doll, IDOL doll
  • j-hope – Jung Ho-seok – Prestige doll, IDOL doll
  • Jimin – Park Ji-min – Prestige doll, IDOL doll
  • V – Kim Tae-hyung – Prestige doll, IDOL doll
  • JungKook – Jeon Jung-kook  – Prestige doll, IDOL doll

 

• JungKook – Jeon Jung-kook  – Prestige doll, IDOL doll

 

BTS was founded in 2013 and has made it to the top of the charts in the US and UK as well as in Asia. BTS is short for Bangtan Sonyeondan which translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” and informally as Bangtan Boys.  The entire set of dolls is represented in the Celebrity Doll Museum.

The Celebrity Doll Museum BTS idol Mattel dolls video exhibit is also available on our YouTube channel.

The RM “Idol” outfit on the doll consists of yellow with multi-colored large polka dot collared shirt front with white decorative button tops down the front. under a shiny turquoise, pink and black elongated hexagon patterned suit jacket. Underneath are matching long pants.  The shirt is false front sewn into the inside of jacket. A Velcro strip closes the front of the shirt.  The jacket comes tacked to the front of the pants in two places to hold it in position. Pants are removable with back Velcro fly.  Molded white soft plastic hi-top sneakers have a slit in the back for easy removable and have unique left and right versions. All the clothing is removable.

No socks under the hi-tops and skin toned underwear is molded into the body. 

The eyes and lips are painted through some kind of textured dot matrix printing,  The RM doll has the artists signature dimple molded into the doll’s left cheek.   The black with light blue highlighted rooted hair is extremely well styled and sprayed with product to hold it in place.  The doll’s head is stamped with ©2019 MATTEL at the neckline.

The 11 point articulation is somewhat limited for dance poses. Head rotates and tilts slightly down but doesn’t go up.  The body/waist  is fixed, the shoulders rotate around but hit a stop and must be reversed to position. The hips articulate only forward and back but not side to side.  Knees, elbows, ankles, and wrists bend and twist.  The ankles rotate in all directions which makes it easier to balance and stand the doll.

The  RM doll comes in a clam shell box with a black and white BTS motif. The back has a B&W photo of the K-pop group,  The clamshell packaging is a nice way to display the BTS dolls because it’s attractive and keeps the dust off the dolls. It is worth trying to preserved it when taking the doll out to play or display.

BTS Doll Removal Instructions:

1. The clamshell cover opens cleanly by running a slightly sharp utility knife blade starting from the bottom vent near the shoes and slitting between black papered covered cardboard and plastic cover around the edge. .  If you slightly angle the blade edge toward the plastic you get a much cleaner cut.  The doll is secured with two plastic fasteners into the head from the molded plastic holder. The rest is secured with all elastic bands/elastic fasteners that can be stretched to remove the doll.   
2. Cut the  two head fasteners between plastic holder and head (Be careful you don’t cut any hair) or in gap behind head if you have tiny accurate scissors .
3.  Slide arms out of fastener loop. The articulation works in your favor.
4. Take off shoe polyband and remove shoes by pulling down near the heals.
5. Point toes.
6. Slowly slide the doll up toward the top wiggle it lose from the waist and calf fasteners.  They stretch so they will give a little. You can also bend the knees to wrestle the legs free from the calf band first.  It stretches plastic fastener pretty close to the limit so be careful. Works with shoes left on too.
7. To secure the clam shell top to the paper/cardboard backing after opening, consider Alliance Rubber 02004 EPDM Non-Latex Rubber X-treme File Bands (They are considered more archival and longer lasting than regular rubber bands).  String works too.

 

To get the current prices of the BTS Kim Nam-joon (RM) doll use these links:

 

 

 

 

Here is a longer YouTube Mirrored Dance BTS video in the same costumes as depicted in the dolls.