The ARMY Bomb through the generations: how the lightstick has changed

Few objects give away that you're at a BTS concert as fast as the ARMY Bomb. When the lights go down and thousands of lightsticks start changing color together with the music, the crowd becomes part of the whole show. Today's version, though, is pretty far removed from the first ARMY Bomb that showed up more than ten years ago.

The first version was introduced in 2015 and looked quite different from today's models. It was bigger, with a clear ball decorated in a pattern that resembled camouflage print, and small pieces inside that shifted around when shaken. The handle carried the BTS and ARMY logos. Today, that original version rarely shows up at concerts and much more often ends up in collections instead.

Version 2 arrived in 2017, right before The Wings Tour. The design became simpler and sleeker, but the bigger change was hidden inside: the ARMY Bomb gained wireless connectivity. That opened the door to something we now take for granted, that the lights in the crowd can be controlled and synced with the concert production.

By 2018, Ver.3 had arrived, and it became one of the most recognizable versions of the ARMY Bomb. It followed BTS through their era of major world tours and stadium concerts, with improved Bluetooth connectivity enabling increasingly elaborate light effects across the crowd.

The Map of the Soul Special Edition arrived in 2020. Though it's sometimes informally counted as the fourth generation, it never officially carried the name Ver.4. It had a cleaner, more modern design with the recognizable BTS and ARMY symbols inside the ball, and this model stayed current for almost six years.

The actual BTS Official Light Stick Ver.4 was introduced in February 2026, ahead of BTS's comeback and the ARIRANG tour. Alongside a refreshed design, it got a new app and a more advanced control system for use during concerts. It can display a wider range of colors with finer transitions between them, and production can control different sections of the crowd more precisely. The app can also save data about concerts the lightstick has been paired at, and some colors and effects can be adjusted outside of concert mode too.

Ver.4 also brought an important change for concerts. During the first part of the ARIRANG tour, the official wireless control still supported Ver.3, the Map of the Soul Special Edition, and Ver.4. From the Busan concert on June 12, 2026, the system switched to Ver.4 exclusively. Older ARMY Bombs can still be turned on and used as a lightstick, but they no longer take part in the officially synchronized light effects during the show.

That doesn't mean the old ARMY Bomb suddenly has no value, though. Each version now represents a different era of BTS's career. Older models that made it through previous tours can still be spotted in the stands, while the first versions, no longer in production, have become especially interesting to collectors.

From the big ball of 2015 to a Ver.4 that pairs with a stadium seat in seconds, the ARMY Bomb has changed right alongside the scale of BTS's concerts. It used to be a light you held in your hand, today it's part of the concert production itself.