By turns colourful, creative and ever-so-slightly creepy, the 1,500sq m (16,000sq ft) “Line Village” in Bangkok’s commercial heart immerses visitors in the internal world of the app with cut-outs, projections and life-size models of its cutesie ‘sticker’ characters.
Bears “Brown” and “Choco” sit in rooms painstakingly adorned with details of the siblings’ ‘lives’ and passions - sport for the former and social media and fashion for the latter.
Mirrors and interactive screens add to the sensory blast of bright colours as each character gets a full treatment, gifting selfie backdrops for superfans of the Japan-made app.
“The concept of Line Village is to actually bring Line characters into reality,” Rupop Shinawatra, the theme park’s executive adviser said, adding the concept is a Thai “first”.
“Like... Brown, you go to into his bedroom, there’s the forest area, there’s a lot of activities, both digital and physical
experiences.”
The target market is Thai - nearly two-thirds of Thailand’s 68mn people use Line, as well as Asian tourists to Bangkok and curious westerners to whom the app may be less familiar.
“Thai people are very social media savvy... Line connects groups, it’s constant communication. We are hoping people will bring that here,” Rupop added.
