Seventeen’s official animated characters were revealed to have been created by the members themselves.

On an online forum, netizens discussed the recent series of characters released by the boy group, noting that the members’ input was taken into account during the design process. According to netizens, these characters and animations were "extremely unpopular" among fans, with most feedback and reactions being negative.

However, Seventeen’s Mingyu stepped up and shared on Weverse that he was the one who chose the 'potato' character, which was reportedly one of the least popular among Seventeen fans, with some who called the design only a "half-hearted effort."

Mingyu wrote: "I'm sorry, Carats... lol I chose the potato... sorry... lololol."

In follow-up comments, he added:

"lol this is so funny, and I am so embarrassed hahahahah."

"I made it when my hair was really short, so... lololol I didn’t think much of it when I made it... lol."

"lololol I am so sorry."

To a particular comment from a fan criticizing Pledis Entertainment’s "bad artistic taste" for drawing the potato in an unappealing way, Mingyu humorously responded:

"lol... I know... I drew it way too simply, huh... lol... Sorry, I’m the one who drew it..."

Later, Mingyu defended his design, saying:

"Come on, when the dolls come out, they’re going to look so cute in your room and get lots of love!"

When another fan commented that the potato was the "most stable because of its big size," Mingyu replied:

"I asked them to make mine the biggest one lol."

Netizens responded with laughter, while some wondered why the characters were disliked in the first place. Reactions included:

"Lol this is like the Talula meme."

"This is hilariously sad lololololol."

"This situation is so funny lololololol Mingyu-ya lol."

"They said all kinds of things, what now lol."

"Now you can self-identify as a famine-resistant crop (potato) lolol oh dear."

"lolol our Mingyu, they kept saying he would never make it into visual rankings and all that... geez, he's just adorable."

"These days, even ugly dolls are popular. Mingyu made a good choice."

"No, seriously, this is funny and sad T_T lolol The fans are now in a situation where they’re roasting him themselves."

"Complainers are always the loudest, and they spread their opinions everywhere, so even if just a few speak up, it feels like there are more of them... I wish they’d tone it down. There were so many fans who loved it T_T."

"I'm from another fandom, but tweets about the potato having bad visuals came up on my feed... I didn’t expect it to be a Talula meme situation."

"It's like dissing your own artist's bad visuals..."

"This is my first time seeing it, and it’s just cute, so why all the fuss?"

"It’s cute though lol But why is the potato so big? lol."

"Huh, what’s ugly about it? It’s all cute to me."

"I saw the character for the first time today, and it’s just adorable."

"Honestly, I thought it was cute T_T."

"The situation is hilarious lolololol They didn’t just think it was bad; they went overboard with it, trying to find reasons to keep criticizing even when they couldn't go Talula anymore. Just stop, if you don’t want it, don’t buy it."

"The member who came forward and addressed it honestly is so cute lol."

"He drew it himself? That’s adorable."

What are your thoughts?

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