Unboxing: BTS — BE Essential Edition

My copy of BTS' BE Essential Edition album, which was released last Friday, arrived just in time today, on the cusp of their MTV Unplugged performance, like BigHit knew that we'd need to listen to this album on repeat (as if we weren't already doing that). BE was originally released last November in their Deluxe Edition format (you can find my unboxing post here), which comes with a ton of content and was much more customized by the boys. The Deluxe Edition is definitely catered towards the true ARMY; someone who was willing to shell out $65 on an album for all the extras and the personalization. Content-wise, the Essential Edition is more similar to BTS' typical album style, more catered to the masses, and much more affordable (about half the price of the Deluxe Edition). However, that's not to say that it's not beautifully packaged. Because BTS albums are always beautifully packaged.

  BTS BE Essential Edition Album
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook — J-Hope
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook — Jin
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook — Jungkook
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook — Jimin
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook — RM
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook — Suga
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photobook — V

The album cover is identical to the Deluxe Edition (with the addition of their "Grammy nominee" and "Billboard Hot 100 #1" stickers 'cause hi, you gotta flex your achievements), but the box itself is much slimmer (about half the size of the Deluxe Edition) and has openings on both sides of the box, so you can slide the contents out both ways. The photobook included with this edition features the same photoshoots as the Deluxe Edition but does include some different shots and angles than the Deluxe. 

BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Photocard Set + Individual Photocard (Jin)
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Fold-Out Poster
BTS BE Deluxe Edition Album — Digipak + Pre-Order Gift Photocard Holder Keychain (Jimin and Jungkook)

I appreciate that this edition still comes with the whole set of photocards for all the members (again, same photoshoot as the Deluxe, but different poses), but comes with one extra random member photocard as well (I got Jin!). Of course, it also includes a poster — which I'm somewhat annoyed about because it's a fold-out one instead of rolled, which is how they packaged all of the previous album posters — featuring the iconic group shot in the blue room, which I personally favour. The Digipak here is noticeably simpler than in the Deluxe Edition, on a separate all-white board featuring a matching white disc. Finally, for those of us who pre-ordered on Weverse Shop, we also got a special pre-order gift, which was a photocard holder keychain. I got Jimin and Jungkook because apparently BigHit knows my biases.

And that, friends, was the unboxing of BE Essential Edition. More affordable than their Deluxe Edition for ARMYs that don't have as much income but still wanna treat themselves, but different enough that those who got the Deluxe Edition will still collect it. (Let's be real, the hardcore ARMYs are still gonna buy it regardless of what they included in it.)