Get ready for a long post ahead.
RAINBOW BONDAGE BEAR MASTERPOST
This is a massive topic, and it involves a lot more than just 2 bears in rainbow gear, so I am doing my best in placing you back in the time and show you the atmosphere and the happening with the band. I am trying to explain it without making a monster post. EDIT: I failed.
I have a tag /tagged/rbb-history where it is explained that a rainbow bear wearing a cute hairband with a bow on it was thrown on stage in Manchester during the WWA tour. Then a few (?) shows later it appeared in full bondage gear, we called it rainbow bondage bear (later RBB) and the bear kept appearing at the shows.
Then it accompanied the band to the US leg of the WWA tour, and we saw the bear for a few shows, even surrounded by policemen (I think it was in Philly).
They created a twitter account for the bear, advertised the name under the bear, asked for a follow, I think Josh was the fourth follower. It was a mystery who was behind it. Josh was the primary suspect, he tweeted he is not involved with it, then Ant their sound engineer (?) also tweeted he is not taking care of the bears. We then enjoyed the frequent photos they posted on said twitter account. There was drinking, watching Judy Garland movies, being hungover, more drinking, he had quite the life.
Important to mention that the band had a palm tree (Eric) as a mascot as well, this tree also had a twitter account and was involved in massive drinking.
I think about three days passed and the RBB twitter was gone. People said it was because of the drinking but the funny thing is that the palm tree could stay and if I remember correctly that account is still happily alive, but not posting anymore pictures.
All in all, the twitter disappeared, the bear did too. We were outraged, Rainbow Direction got attacked, member of RD posted their seats in one of the asks and for the entire show their concert experience was destroyed by a security guard and Magee/Griffith’s death stares, the LGBTQIA+ members of the fandom felt unsafe, as their team was so homophobic that they are pressed by a rainbow stuffed bear, and as a reaction we started to see rainbows everywhere, Niall went to the NASA with a rainbow cap and got pictured with everyone and their grandma, Anne, Jay, Gemma, even Julian posted/liked/favorited something related to rainbows, Liam wore a shirt at one of the shows which was the album cover of their opening act, and it had rainbows, the acts individually would be taken as coincidences, but looking at the big picture it was quite deliberate.
We mourned the bear, there was some attempt as a pink pony appeared, but we kept getting the reports from concert goers that confirmed RBB was nowhere to be seen.
A few shows later though it appeared, no longer in bondage gear, and that was the show where Harry deliberately sang the line “At first I was afraid, I was petrified” instead of “Happy birthday”.
So the big gay war was massively happening, we had THAT week in August, and soon we understood that THAT show was the last when we saw RBB during WWA.
OTRA started with Josh posting a picture about RBB, in total Freddie Mercury gear, we even started calling him Teddy Mercury, and the world was a nice place again. The bear kept appearing at shows, frequently changing outfits, wearing tutus, and t-shirts with My favorite color is rainbow written on it, the CSI part of the fandom even found these gears at build a bear pages on the web.
The bear only missed the Japan shows, and we understood later that probably because it was an Arena, and they did not find a place to put it.
Then RBB introduced SBB to the fandom during the EU leg of OTRA, and soon they started to put these mood stickers, and there was a very visible attempt to distinguish and make RBB as Harry, and SBB as Louis.
A couple of examples: RBB: banana, microphone with green, froyo, green mood sticker. Louis: skateboard, baby bottle, blue mood sticker, McDonald’s..
There were also some framed pictures associated with the bears, and those were all closeted celebrities who in some way were forced to hide their true selves, their sexuality/ forced to have a grueling schedule and some even went to the court or was dragged to court. We found a ton of links to the X factor, and Simon Cowell himself. Those researches soon made clear that there is a bts war between the boys and Simon, which was already clear by the smear campaign started by Simon and co.
RBB/SBB missed a few shows, and these occurrences can be linked to massive attacks (Babygate announcement, Attitude article, someone with fake baby bump appearing at shows,.. etc). As crazy as it sounds the bears became message bearers, and they gave a ton of hints, soon the boys themselves started rebel like crazy against Simon. Beats interview: complaints about being tired and overworked, then at the Apple Music Festival shading the merch like a pro, Harry shading the record label execs that they are bored, then some massive Simon shades at the London concerts: Niall’s Not Anymore Simon, Liam wearing a Simon mask during Little White Lies and Harry putting a stuffed animal under his tshirt symbolizing a pregnant belly during Little White Lies.
The bears disappeared later, and then came back after a massive rainbow countdown on their newly created twitter account, they made their first text post a few minutes after midnight on Nov 1st, and we were blessed with some pictures there. One even had Louis on it, which I cannot believe is a coincidence, those boys really made sure not to give hints, so it was deliberate, since then they are being a bit more careful. I think the message was received that Louis is definitely behind the bears with Harry, so there is no need to out them every single time. Both of them tweeted even a minute apart from RBB, and it is undeniable that HL are involved with the bears.
The bears travel to LA, and now to Mexico with them, and keep us updated almost every day now. They frequently change icons and headers.
The bears are amazing at dragging, see Kimmel’s attempt at mocking the fandom with a potato, the boys posted a pic where they made sure we understand they are on our side, not letting a showman mock their fans.
Resources:
RBB/SBB site with amazing search function, all credits going to @beccasafan, she is amazing and that page is the best go-to place if you need bear info.
An earlier masterpost with some links and pictures dated Feb 3rd, 2015.
Tags:
RBB - a massive collection of all posts involving RBB or RBB related speculation
RBB history,
chrono RBB tag, (posts with RBB tag in chronological order)
RBB twitter,
Who runs RBB - when the boys made deliberate actions revealing involvement
That week in August
Rainbows - when RBB disappeared and everyone suddenly became very “vocal” with rainbows
Simon vs 1d war
the boys fighting back (against Simon)