Apart from bringing distinct Korean fast food sauces and making ARMYs everywhere feel in cloud 9, McDonald's BTS meal challenged many Filipino creatives to make art out of its packaging. Die-hard fans of the K-pop boy band got craftsy by making art cards and phone cases out of the containers. Others took it to the next level by making a robot sculpture, sneaker design, and fashion accessories to immortalize the fast food and K-pop collab craze.
One artist took a different path and explored the art of Funko to recreate the famed meal set. Manila Bulletin Lifestyle graphic artist Ariana Maralit channeled her love passion for sculpting and molded Funko-inspired mini figurines of the BTS Meal. While she didn't use the lilac packaging in her art compared to the others' works, her attention to detail definitely deserves to be noticed.
We asked Ariana about her inspiration for doing the figurines, and how her passion for toys and sculpture became the start of her Mini Pop designs.
Where did the idea of making BTS Meal mini collectables come from?
This was my first time molding food-related sculpture since I've been more focused on customizing Funko-inspired figures. As Filipinos never run out of creative ideas on showing their BTS meal artworks, I decided to give in and made my own small version for fun.
How long did you work on it?
I did everything over the weekend, from molding the nuggets to making the layout. The most challenging part was preparing the BTS meal packaging because it's too small and my hands are shaky, but I'm happy with the results.
What made you pursue sculpting Funko-inspired art?
This pandemic made people do a lot of things just to cope with boredom and breakdowns. I'm one of them. I started Mini Pop because I want to give the feeling of joy to others by having a customized Funko-inspired toy but in a small version, hence the name of the shop. I'm still exploring this Funko pop art to add more twists on my work like the one I recently made that glows in the dark.
Where can we see more of your works?
You can see more samples on my Instagram account, @_minipop. People can send a DM if they have customized work in mind.