BT21 are considered to be counterparts to the BTS members. Since the members created them, the BT21 characters have inherited traits from them too.

Yet, MANG‘s story is becoming more and more like J-Hope‘s.

Recently, J-Hope re-designed MANG, revealing that MANG is actually not a pony. Instead, MANG is a chipmunk/squirrel character that sometimes wears a pony mask gifted to them by their mentor, CONN.

| BT21

J-Hope also worked even more on MANG’s backstory, revealing they are from a squirrel village, Dotohee* (*sounds like dotori which is “acorn” in Korean). It was also revealed that MANG has a family, which ARMYs noticed mirrors J-Hope’s real-life family. Like J-Hope, MANG had a strict father but supportive noona (older sister).

“Time travel to year 2006Being crazy for dance, I tightened my mom’s belt.When I daily jumped into the dance despite my dad’s opposition, she was unfazed by it all and floated a boat of my dream.”

Hobi: "mang has to have a sister and his dad has to be strict, strict by all means. He's like 'u want to go there?' Since he cares so much about his child, he won't let him go" pic.twitter.com/3H5sBbgqpq

— jayvee (@uarmyvibe) April 26, 2023

Yet, it’s the moments between MANG and their father that are taken directly from J-Hope’s own story. Previously, J-Hope shared that he would pretend to study while watching dancing videos. Yet, he was caught by his dad one day, who sighed disappointed and left.

When I was younger and really into dancing, it happened to be my exam period. I would pretend to study in my room, but I was actually watching dance videos. I was working really hard on pretending to study and watching dance videos when my dad suddenly came into my room. At the time, I was so surprised. My dad sighed deeply and just left. I remember this memory vividly.

— J-Hope

| BTS/VLIVE & BT21/YouTube

While J-Hope’s dad opposed his dancing, he eventually came around. He’s now J-Hope’s biggest supporter. These scenes were recreated in MANG’s story as it showed HO-PU discovering MANG’s dancing in their room and later hugging them, saying how proud he is of MANG.

That’s why I once danced in front of my dad with no music. He told me to dance for him, so I poured out my passion by dancing without any music or noise. The only sound you could hear was the sound of my clothing and my breathing. There was a time like that.

In the beginning, my dad opposed my dancing a lot. Now, he supports me more than anyone!

— J-Hope

| BTS/VLIVE & BT21/YouTube

Everything down to the hug between the father and child is like J-Hope’s story.

Like how MANG inherited traits from J-Hope, the dads are similar in many ways. MANG’s dad is also a collector.

Source: Koreaboo.com