diff --git a/docs/messages.md b/docs/messages.md
index ba54e91d36..59ee903c28 100644
--- a/docs/messages.md
+++ b/docs/messages.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ## Character Set
 
-`[font=normal]`: 𝅘𝅥𝅮!#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ\[¥]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~°ÀÁÂÄÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÑÒÓÔÖÙÚÛÜßàáâäçèéêëìíîïñòóôöùúûü¡¿ª♥★↑↓←→●✖“”‘’ ⒶⒷⓈ⬆⬇⬅➡ⓁⓇⓏ
+`[font=normal]`: 𝅘𝅥𝅮!#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ\[¥]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~°ÀÁÂÄÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÑÒÓÔÖÙÚÛÜßàáâäçèéêëìíîïñòóôöùúûü¡¿ª♥★↑↓←→●✖“”‘’ ⒶⒷⓈ▲▼◀▶ⓁⓇⓏ
 
 `[font=title]` and `[font=subtitle]`: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'.,0123456789©&
 
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 
 Similar to BBCode, tags begin with `[` and end with `]`. They may take positional arguments (`value`) and named arguments (`arg=value`). The order of named arguments does not matter. Values are parsed as integers if possible, and hexidecimal integers are supported. Tag names and argument names are case-insensitive.
 
+To write a literal `[` character (and not start a tag), prefix it with a backslash; i.e. `\[`.
+
 ### `[message name section= index=]...[/message]`
 
 Marks the beginning and end of a message.
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ Resets the color to what it was before the most recent `[color=]` tag. The defau
 
 ### `[a]` `[b]` `[l]` `[r] `[z]` `[start]` `[c-up]` `[c-down]` `[c-left]` `[c-right]`
 
-Shorthand for the button prompt characters ⒶⒷⓁⓇⓏⓈ⬆⬇⬅➡ respectively. You can override the color used with a named parameter `[a color=]`.
+Shorthand for the button prompt characters ⒶⒷⓁⓇⓏⓈ▲▼◀▶ respectively. You can override the color used with a named parameter `[a color=]`.
 
 Supported color names: blue green red yellow gray grey
 
diff --git a/tools/compile_messages.py b/tools/compile_messages.py
index b8bdc1ce6f..e92d716376 100755
--- a/tools/compile_messages.py
+++ b/tools/compile_messages.py
@@ -262,10 +262,10 @@ CHARSET = {
     "Ⓐ": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x10, 0x98, 0xFF, 0x25],
     "Ⓑ": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x11, 0x99, 0xFF, 0x25],
     "Ⓢ": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x12, 0xA1, 0xFF, 0x25],
-    "⬆": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0x9D, 0xFF, 0x25],
-    "⬇": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0x9E, 0xFF, 0x25],
-    "⬅": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0x9F, 0xFF, 0x25],
-    "➡": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0xA0, 0xFF, 0x25],
+    "▲": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0x9D, 0xFF, 0x25],
+    "▼": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0x9E, 0xFF, 0x25],
+    "◀": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0x9F, 0xFF, 0x25],
+    "▶": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x13, 0xA0, 0xFF, 0x25],
     "Ⓛ": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x14, 0x9A, 0xFF, 0x25],
     "Ⓡ": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x14, 0x9B, 0xFF, 0x25],
     "Ⓩ": [0xFF, 0x24, 0xFF, 0x05, 0x14, 0x9C, 0xFF, 0x25],