Rainbow Bondage Bear

Rainbow Bondage Bear aka RBB is a rainbow-colored teddy bear dressed in bondage gear that was prominently displayed at many One Direction concerts in 2014 and 2015. Later it became better known as a fan theory embraced by fans who believe that Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson are in a secret gay relationship in real life.
The bear first appeared when a fan threw it on stage at a 1D concert in May 2014; someone (or multiple people) on tour kept the bear, added duct-tape bondage gear, and set it next to various pieces of stage equipment at future concerts where it was visible to fans. In 2015, a second, smaller bear was added to the display; fans call this bear Sugar Baby Bear aka SBB. RBB and SBB's costumes became increasingly elaborate, as props and furniture were added, frequently referencing queer culture. 
RBB was a source of considerable fascination and glee for parts of One Direction fandom. Many fans photographed the bears, and spotting them at concerts became a long-running game. 
While most fans initially believed the bears were set up by crewmembers as an in-joke with the fans, some came to believe that Harry and Louis themselves were responsible for the bears and were using them to send messages to the fans about being in a secret relationship. The bears became a major source of "evidence" for the larries of 1D fandom. 
Other fans believed that the bears had a connection to Ziam. Meanwhile, a large number of fans who did not believe that either Larry or Ziam were real believed that the 1D crew was actively trolling Larry fans. A number of fans expressed discomfort with the continued shenanigans, which they likened to queerbaiting. 
RBB and friends have also inspired fanart and feature in some -- mainly Larry -- fanfics.
==Bear Timeline==
This section briefly enumerates Rainbow Bondage Bear activities. 
===2014===
*April: Where We Are Tour (WWA) begins.
*May 30: A fan throws a rainbow bear in a headband at the stage in Manchester. It misses., tweeted by 1DTrace, 22 June 2014. (Accessed 11 November 2021.)
*June 6: The bear appears onstage in London, covered in gaffer tape made to look like full bondage gear. The fans start calling it Rainbow Bondage Bear (RBB) because it is a rainbow bear in bondage gear.
*The bear is spotted at several more shows, attached to the stage scaffolding, still wearing the same bondage gear.
*August 12: A twitter account with display name "Mr.Bear" is created for the bear. A photo of the bear next to a sign saying to follow @bondagebear1d proves the account is legitimate.
*August 12-14: The twitter account posts lots of pictures of the bear with alcohol, vomiting into a toilet, watching Judy Garland movies, and having hangover coffees. Through all of this the bear is in bondage gear.
*August 14?: After two days the twitter account is taken down. 
*August 29 or 30: After a two-week break, RBB appears onstage again, this time without bondage gear, in Chicago.
*October 5: Tour ends.
===2015===
*February 6: In Sydney, Australia, Josh Devine, the band's drummer, posts a picture to Instagram with the bear in the background. 
*February 7: On The Road Again Tour (OTRA) begins.
*RBB appears at most OTRA concerts in various costumes.
*June 13: A second, smaller rainbow bear joins RBB in Brussels. Fans call this bear Sugar Baby Bear or SBB. SBB appears at many shows after this.
*July 9: North American leg starts; elaborate sets and tableaus are added for RBB and SBB.
*October 10: A new twitter account is created for the bears: @rbbsbbofficial. By December 19, it has 147K followers.
*October 30: At a concert, RBB is holding a real iPhone labeled with a phone number. Fans call and send texts to the number during the concert, and texts appear on the phone's screen.
*October 31: On The Road Again Tour (OTRA) ends.
*December 2: A Texas radio station asks the band about the bears. Harry Styles says the crew was responsible.
*December 3: Entertainment Weekly publishes an interview with Josh Devine in which they asked about the bears. Josh says the crew was responsible.
===2016===
*January 20: RBB appears at a Baaba Maal/Blick Bassy concert in London., beccasafan's website
*February 12: The @Rbbsbbofficial Twitter account deactivates.
*August 27: RBB appears at a Little Mix concert.
===2017===
*July: PopBuzz interviews Louis Tomlinson and asks him if he was responsible for the bears. Louis says he wasn't and doesn't know enough about the bears to say who did it.
==Chronology of Fan Responses and Theories==
This section describes how 1D fans reacted to and theorized about bear-related events. It also includes many details about the bears' concert appearances and bear twitter account activity that some fans used as a lens to interpret 1D-related celebrity news. The bears were a subject of fandom-wide speculation, but as time passed, larries became the main group of fans interested in theorizing about what message the bears were sending to the fandom. (Ziam believers, fewer in number, held similar views about the bears: see #Ziam below.)
===Where We Are Tour===
When fans spotted the bear again at the June 6 show, attached to the stage scaffolding and wearing electrical tape resembling bondage gear, they started calling it Rainbow Bondage Bear or RBB., twitter search conducted on 11 November 2021. 
According to hiddensymposiarch, the bear was spotted at many shows between June and August., tumblr post by hiddensymposiarch, 14 August 2014. As of 11 November 2021, this post has 219 notes. Searching twitter for this period shows many fan comments and bear sightings., twitter search conducted 11 November 2021.
A twitter account for the bear was created August 12. The twitter account posted lots of pictures of the bear with alcohol, vomiting into a toilet, watching Judy Garland movies, and having hangover coffees. Through all of this the bear was in bondage gear. 
File:Never Drinking Again RBB Tweet.png|From the RBB twitter account.
File:Rbb-Judy Garland.png|From the RBB Twitter account
Fans started speculating that this account and the bear were made and run by crew and/or band members:
Meanwhile, some fans screenshot the bear's twitter account, expecting it would not last. When the twitter account was deleted two days later, hiddensymposiarch posted the story of RBB so far, with pictures, and included several possible theories about why the twitter account was deleted. hiddensymposiarch was a larrie at the time, so the theories invoked 1DHQ, Big Gay War, and other larrie assumptions about what could be happening behind the scenes. However, hiddensymposiarch did not think Harry and Louis themselves were responsible for the bear or the twitter account. hiddensymposiarch's tumblr post had 219 notes.
The bear then reappeared onstage in late August 2014, this time wearing pink sparkly shoes instead of bondage gear. At that time, most fans thought it was a fun mascot for the Where We Are tour that showed queer acceptance and supported queer fans.
===Australian, Asian, and African legs of the OTRA Tour===
thumb|Twitter fans celebrate the return of RBB.
On February 6, 2015, the day before the OTRA tour started in Sydney, Australia, Josh Devine, the band's drummer, posted a picture to Instagram with the bear in the background. Because of this, some people initially thought that Josh could be behind the bears. Larries felt it was significant that this happened directly after Harry and Louis travelled on the same flight, an event Larries called lairport.
Searching twitter reactions for February 6-7, 2015, shows a lot of 1D fans were very excited to hear the news that RBB had returned for the OTRA tour. (Accessed 6 November 2021.) (Many of them may have been reacting to concert photos posted by fans rather than Josh Devine's instagram.) Tumblr fans were excited, too; for example, tumblr user whiteknightonasteed posted a pre-concert photo of RBB with the caption "Rainbow bondage bear is here :)))))))))))))" and got 2000+ notes., 7 February 2015. As of 6 November 2021, the tumblr post has 2359 notes.
The OTRA tour had a bear at almost every show. RBB was frequently dressed as Freddie Mercury, garnering the nickname Teddy Mercury because of this. RBB showed up many times in different outfits, including in a Rainbow Is My Favourite Colour shirt in Brisbane and a pink bathrobe with a Freddie Mercury mustache in Singapore. 
File:Josh Devine and RBB.png
File:Rainbow Bondage Bear.png
File:Rbb In Sparkly Shoes.png
File:Bearhemian Rhapsody.jpg|Bearhemian Rhapsody
File:Teddy Mercury.jpg
File:Royal Teddy Mercury.jpg|Teddy Mercury in a crown holding a pride flag
File:Teddy Mercury on a Unicorn.jpg|Teddy Mercury riding a Unicorn
File:RBB in a bathrobe.jpg
File:RBB Rainbow is my favorite color shirt.jpg|"Rainbow if my favourite colour" T-Shirt RBB with a Freddie Mercury mustache and glasses. February 2015
A couple of dates during the Asia leg did not feature the bear, which was thought to be due to the size of the stadiums (too small to fit the equipment RBB was normally on).
===European Leg of OTRA Tour===
During the European leg of the OTRA tour, fans really started to notice the bears and to speculate about why they were dressed the way they were, starting most of the theories. 
RBB reappeared on the first day of the European Tour in Cardiff on June 5, 2015 in a leather jacket., beccasafan's website. (Accessed 20 November 2021.) Fans on twitter were excited that he reappeared, twitter search on 20 November 2021., and a fan photo posted to tumblr the day of the concert got over three thousand notes in a few days., posted to tumblr by hazandlousohappily, 5 June 2015.
On June 13, 2015 in Brussels, a smaller rainbow bear appeared alongside RBB. Initially fans on twitter were joking about RBB having a child., twitter search 20 November 2021. However, by late June twitter fans were starting to refer to the smaller bear as "Sugar Baby Bear" or SBB, referencing Sugar Daddy relationships., tweet by meetyourmouth, 24 June 2015. (Accessed 21 November 2021.), tweet, 24 June 2015. (Accessed 21 November 2021.), twitter search 21 November 2021.
SBB showed up the same day No Control and 18 were performed for the first time. At the next show (June 16), the bears were dressed in the same outfits again. Fans theorized that this was because SBB’s arrival had been overshadowed by the two songs being performed for the first time. The bears were always at concerts together from that point on. 
On June 27 in Helsinki, the bears were dressed as firemen which was theorized to be related to the One Direction song “Fireproof.”
===North American Leg of the OTRA Tour===
====Bigger Sets====
The North American leg started on 9 July 2015 in San Diego. The bears moved from having outfits to being presented with props in set tableaux. The elaborateness of the setup ramped up right as the fandom really started speculating, tumblr post by tdlpodcast, 20 September 2015. The actual episode on Soundcloud was deleted as of 21 November 2021, though episode 11 and 12 were still up. about what message -- if any -- the bears might be communicating. Some fans believed that the sets became more elaborate in response to the fandom's piqued interest and theorizing. 
Some fans started wondering who could have the money and/or time to keep the bears going. Circa August 24, fans identified a watch RBB was wearing as a $7500 Rolex., 24 August 2015. As of 21 November 2021, the tumblr post has 3,450 notes.
 
July 2015 is when speculation that one or several band members were behind the bears really picked up and larries began to believe that Harry and Louis were using the bears as avatars (RBB=Harry, SBB=Louis) to communicate with their fans."I feel like all truth can be found in RBB and sugar baby bear.... I was half joking. Now I’m about 98% sure they are the way the truth and the light of this god forsaken band." , 21 July 2015. As of 21 November 2021, the tumblr post has 859 notes., tweet in French by Man_Gayness, 10 July 2015., tweet in Spanish by pearlxlarry, 26 July 2015., tweet in English by 1DMayne, 22 July 2015. , tweet in English by itsobia, 25 August 2015. One reason that larries decided that Louis must be SBB is that Louis is shorter than Harry., 1 March 2016. As of 27 November this tumblr post has 800 notes., 17 August 2016. As of 27 November 2021, this tumblr post has 68 notes.
Arguments for the band member theory included the fact that it had to be someone traveling with the band to be able to put the bears up every show. Larries believed that it was unlikely the crew had the time or money to plan RBB and SBB; in their opinion, the planner had to be someone who could afford the huge expensive sets, and have enough time to research, buy, and set them up. This narrowed the pool of likely candidates so that members of One Direction were the only people larries really considered. (Note that this theory assumes that the bear set pieces were not authorized and paid for by the tour or band. It also assumes that the band members had a lot of free time.) See #Cost for more.
====Babygate and Larry Stylinson Theorizing====
Larries started speculating that RBB and SBB might be about Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles's supposed forbidden relationship, aka Larry Stylinson, following the announcement that Louis was becoming a father. Larries were utterly dismayed by the announcement. People magazine first published the information on July 14 and cited an unnamed source, People, 14 July 2015., which Larries latched onto as a reason to doubt it. See: Babygate. 
The next concert, on July 15 in Seattle, did not feature Rainbow Bondage Bear and Sugar Bear. beccasafan's RBB resource website notes that "The Hello Kitty chair and horse were all alone.", beccasafan's website 1D's Rainbow Bondage Bear & Sugar Baby Bear (Accessed 7 November 2021.) Larries speculated that these two events -- the bears missing the concert and the pregnancy announcement -- were related. The stuffed horse prop in particular was read as a symbol of babygate. obviouslymeandyou noted that in the horse's first appearance (July 9 concert) SBB was seated on the horse and RBB was "supportive"; because SBB is assumed by larries to be Louis, this setup was retroactively interpreted as Louis being forced to lie about becoming a father while Harry was standing by to support him during this trying time., tumblr post by obviouslymeandyou, 1 February 2016. As of 27 November 2021, this tumblr post has 36 notes.
For the next show on July 17 in Vancouver, RBB was reading k.d. lang's book "All You Get is Me"., beccasafan's website 1D's Rainbow Bondage Bear & Sugar Baby Bear (Accessed 7 November 2021.) k.d. lang is a Canadian singer-songwriter who came out as a lesbian in the early 1990s, which was unusual at the time. Unsatisfied with the simplest explanation, Larries investigated the contents of the book itself and drew parallels between lang's personal history and their belief that Harry and Louis were undergoing similar struggles. Amazon's summary of the book notes that she had to come "to terms with a sexuality that made her an unwitting poster girl for the lesbian and gay community."
Some fans began to really associate RBB and SBB with Harry and Louis on August 27, 2015 in Cleveland. According to larries, paparazzi had photographed Harry with ice creamOne larrie source said the ice cream was from Baskin Robbins', another said the ice cream was from McDonald's, others didn't specify. , 1 September 2015. (Accessed 21 November 2021.) and Louis with McDonald's fries the previous day. (lrambling, an anti-larrie, was skeptical about the larrie timeline and couldn't verify when Harry and Louis were seen out with ice cream/McDonald's."I’ve learned not to trust Larries when they say stuff like 'the night before' and I was right. The ice cream/mcdonalds picture is from Cleveland, August 27th 2015, and I can find no evidence that Louis was getting McDonalds 'the night before' - that seems to have happened July 10th. I don’t know Harry tumblr well enough to find a meticulous tagger but the date function on a couple Harry blogs gave no sign that he was papped with ice cream on August 26th, in fact all I could find was 2014, 2013, May 2015, and Sept 2015, although I obviously could have missed something. But really, how could the food possibly be a deliberate reference?" , 27 August 2016. As of 3 April 2022, this tumblr post has 115 notes.) On the 27th RBB was holding a plastic ice cream cone, and SBB was in a McDonalds french fries container. beccasafan's website 1D's Rainbow Bondage Bear & Sugar Baby Bear (Accessed 7 November 2021.) Larries also took note of the green sticker on a cup held by RBB and the blue sticker on SBB's fries container, and felt this meant one bear was being identified as Harry (green) and the other as Louis (blue). Blue and green are very significant colors for larries: see Larry Is Real/Theories. 
Blue and green stickers would reappear many times on or near the bears. Some stickers were smiling and some were frowning, and some larries read the stickers' expressions as a sign from Harry and Louis about their current mood or situation.For example: , tweet by babyxpeach, 18 August 2015. beccasafan's website tracked categories for sticker mood, but didn't provide definitive conclusions about their potential meanings: for example, see the entries for the and .
beccasafan's website also made note of when orange and red stickers appeared on the bears.Searched on 8 November 2021. Many bear-related items on beccasafan's website 1D's Rainbow Bondage Bear & Sugar Baby Bear have their own tag, including several sticker types. The search page allows you to select tags and view all photos that contain those items. These other colors don't appear to be discussed as much, but at least one webpage theorized that a red sticker on the back of a chair was a reference to Liam Payne having broken up with his girlfriend, who someone (ziam fans?) thought might be a beard. beccasafan's website 1D's Rainbow Bondage Bear & Sugar Baby Bear (Accessed 8 November 2021.) (Liam's mic color was red.)
On September 1, 2015 RBB was holding a Bette Davis biography., beccasafan's website. (Accessed 6 November 2021.) Bette Davis is a gay icon.See IMDB: Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis (2009) Larries dug deeper, drawing a connection from the book to Bette Davis' real-life contract issues and the rumors about her secret sexuality, to their own belief that Harry and Louis were obligated to stay in the closet by an abusive contract with 1DHQ.
Larries also researched clues from the physical copy that RBB was holding, a library book with various stickers on it, including one that read "HCPL." They thought it looked hand-made and hypothesized that the book could have come from a library sale. Fandom speculation led to two main theories of where the book came from: Holmes Chapel and Harris County. The library in Holmes Chapel (Harry's hometown, in England) is referred to as the "Holmes Chapel Library" not the "Holmes Chapel Public Library." Harris County, Texas is where 1D had filmed their Drag Me Down video a couple weeks previous, so fans felt that this library book was another clue connecting the bears to the band members. (Googling "hcpl library" shows results for other U.S. libraries as well, such as "Hartford County Public Library" and "Harrison County Public Library". However, the Harris County Public Library is the first result.)
On September 3, 2015 in Buffalo, one of the picture frames had a photo of actress Judy Garland, another well-known gay icon (see Wikipedia). RBB's twitter account had made references to Judy Garland before. by anchoredlou, 14 August 2014. As of 1 November 2021, the tumblr post has 2789 notes. by anchoredlou, 14 August 2014. As of 1 November 2021, the tumblr post has 2834 notes.
Also appearing in a picture frame at the Buffalo concert was Ken Dodd. Larries believed that this was another hint at abusive contracts, as Ken was tried in the 1980s for tax evasion because he was using children in his show and not paying them. This was the second concert in a row where Larries found references to legal battles, which they deemed significant., beccasafan's website. (Accessed 8 November 2021.) 
beccasafan's website listed a second factoid larries thought was significant: that the Ken Dodd trial had been led by Brian Leveson, who was later put in charge of the inquiry into the British press phone-hacking scandal. Larries drew links from this tidbit to the fact that Louis had just told a fan that he lost his phone after their last concert. At the same concert, RBB was also holding what larries identified as a Sony Ericsson phone; larries connected that prop to the factoid that One Direction was signed to Sony and speculated that RBB was trying to tell fans that photos may have been leaked from Louis' lost phone.
On September 5, 2015 in Montreal, Canada, the bears were reading a book titled Invitation to a Royal Wedding, with a cover featuring an engagement photo of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Prince Charles and Princess Diana were commonly referred to as The Royal Couple, and suffered from rumors of unwanted pregnancies and secret relationships; larries thought this was a reference to babygatealiensyndrome listing their favorite RBB moments: "When they were sat with photos of Princess Diana and Prince Charles who suffered from rumors of unwanted pregnancies and secret relationships while the babygate news was still fresh." , 26 August 2020.. Prince Charles also had ties to a phone-leak scandal. Larries, who also used the term "Royal Couple" to refer to Louis and Harry, believed this was significant, as it was the third concert in a row with apparent references to legal battles., beccasafan's website. (Accessed 8 November 2021.)
Larries also identified other framed pictures used on the same event as two drag queens: Foo Foo Lamarr (Frank Pearson) of Manchester, UK, and Mado Lamotte (Luc Provost) of Montreal.
At the September 24 concert in London the bears were dressed as brides, seated with a framed photo of English entertainer Larry Grayson that was autographed "Love Larry"., beccasafan's website According to Wikipedia, Grayson was "often cited as one of the first gay entertainers to have enjoyed mass appeal, although he never made any reference to his sexuality." The Larries freaked out because it seemed like direct confirmation that Larry was real and/or Louis and Harry were behind the bears. One larrie masterpost described the bridal set piece as an act of rebellion by Harry and Louis against 1DHQ preventing them from going public about their relationship, and described the disappearance of the Larry Grayson photo after the concert started as an act by 1DHQ reasserting control."During the rebellious London 1 concert of OTRA, RBB had wedding clothes on and a picture of Larry Grayson. Later on the same night the picture of Larry Grayson had been removed. Since the bears were in an area fans couldn’t access and basically had their own guards, it couldn’t have been a fan that removed it. Based on all these incidents along with the times Harry and Louis tried to touch subtly, it appears that their interactions are still being restricted by their team." , tumblr post by bakagamieru, 28 April 2016. As of 16 November 2021, the tumblr post has 193 notes. Another aspect of the tableaux that interested larries was that it took place only a few days before what some believed was Harry and Louis' wedding anniversary: September 28. Many larries on twitter remarked upon the date, which they thought was not a coincidence., tweet by bubblegems17, 25 September 2015., tweet by stypiece, 24 September 2015., tweet by fireflystylesx, 25 September 2015., tweet by Venus_Kingsley, 24 September 2015. , 24 September 2015.
Meanwhile, anti-larries thought that Larry Grayson was meant to be a reference to the Larry ship, but not a sign that Larry was real."The Larry Grayson or whatever was definitely a shout out to the Larries, they are a famous portion of this fandom, even if it doesn’t mean he reads Larrie blogs and was trying to become a Larrie prophet." , 20 September 2017. As of 16 November 2021, the tumblr post has 21 notes.
The next book RBB was seen reading was All of Me by Claire Richards, at the October 4 Manchester concert., beccasafan's website Larries believed that the details of Claire's biography were meant to reflect Harry and Louis' experience: being in a band, feeling incredible amounts of media pressure, and having a bad relationship with Simon Cowell. Claire also suffered from an eating disorder, and 1D fans had speculated that an ED may have affected members of the band in the past. (Harry, Louis, and Niall all have canonical eating disorder tags on AO3, and there was a particularly famous Larry fic called Fading, in which Louis had an eating disorder. Fan discussions not about fic are harder to find [help?], but a few tweets indicate there were rumors about Louis., tweet by loubrighteyes, Oct 5, 2012, tweet by b1tchcurri, Nov 29, 2013 The only news reports about a 1D member having an eating disorder are about Zayn Malik., 1 November 2016.)
On October 10, 2015 someone created a new twitter for the bears: @rbbsbbofficial. Josh Devine was the first person to follow it. Fandom determined that the account was legitimate because it posted new behind the scenes pictures of the bears., beccasafan's website Once the account was discovered, many fans immediately tweeted at the account; some of the tweets mentioned Larry, though most did not., , twitter search 25 November 2021. @rbbsbbofficial would become an important source for larrie theories, especially after the tour ended and the bears disappeared from public view.
====Countdown====
On October 20, which some have called "the most chaotic day in 1D fandom", One Direction cancelled their first show ever in Belfast, the "Perfect" video dropped unexpectedly, Louis tweeted about the song "Home," and it was announced that Louis would be an X Factor judge in 2016. 
Many fans, especially Larries, saw some or all of those events as related. 
Fans expressed many theories about the unusual cancellation on The Daily Edge, 12 October 2015., which was originally said to be due to Liam being sick. Liam later stated that it was because of mental health issues following a painful break-up in The Scottish Sun, Nov 21, 2017.
In typical fashion, some Larries believed that the cancellation might be Larry-related:
Many Larries also interpreted the song lyrics of "Home" (fairly standard love song fare) to be Larry-related: about realizing one’s sexuality (“so many nights I thought it over, told myself I kind of liked her but there was something missing in her eyes”) and finding someone who understands you (“still high with a little feeling I see the smile as it starts to creep in it was there I saw it in your eyes.”)
Also on October 20, the rbbsbbofficial twitter account started a five-day countdown, posting images every day which symbolized numbers (a hand with 5 fingers, the number 4 on a calculator, a phone screen indicating 1 message, etc.) whipping those who were following into a frenzy., 29 July 2017?. Original post 26 September 2016. , October 2016. The bears did not appear at the October 21, 22, or 23 concerts. (It seems the bears also hadn't appeared at a concert since October 12, according to beccasafan's website.)
On October 23, @rbbsbbofficial's header changed to a picture of RBB wearing glasses, in which some fans believed they could see a reflection of a shirt similar to those Louis sometimes wore. Fans noticed and tweeted at rbbsbbofficial, and the header was taken down., twitter search 23 November 2021., tumblr post by Stephanie Soteriou, 25 October 2015. As of 23 November 2021, this tumblr post has 2894 notes. It appears that Stephanie Soteriou is an entertainment journalist and the article was originally posted on yahoo before being deleted. See at yahoo.com According to larries, subsequent pictures of RBB and SBB wearing reflective surfaces were all deliberately blurred., tumblr post by skepticalarrie.
thumb|Blue and green spotlights focused on RBB and SBB at the October 29, 2015 show. Because larries believe that blue signifies Louis and green signifies Harry, some larries believed that this confirmed the connection between the bears and Harry/Louis.
On October 25, the last day of the countdown... nothing of significance happened. @rbbsbbofficial posted an image of a sign which read "Danger, bears are coming out of hibernation", beccasafan's website, and the bears reappeared at the concert that evening, beccasafan's website. Many fans were upset that the countdown had not led to Larry coming out, Larry getting engaged, the announcement that Louis was not going to be a father after all, or any other revelations or significant interactions between Harry and Louis. 
However, in a move consistent with many conspiracy theorists, some simply shifted the goalposts to keep the "sign" significant. Some believed that it might just be the start of the coming out process, or theorized retrospectively that the countdown might have been to 5 months or even 5 years: 
5 months later: 
5 years later:
Ziam tinhats, however, believed the countdown did have an effect: 
====Phone Number and Tour's End====
On October 30th, the second to last day of tour, RBB was holding a real iPhone, hooked to a battery, with a label that had a phone number on it. It was actually the real number for the phone, which still worked as of 4/11/21. Fans called and texted during the concert and texts were visible on the lock screen as they came in. 
Some Larries speculated that this was another part of Harry/Louis not being able to say anything about being gay/closeted/in a secret relationship/in an abusive contract/trapped in a fake baby conspiracy, but letting the fans say it for them. Many ‘Larry is real’ texts were visible on the screen.
After the concert @rbbsbbofficial tweeted a screenshot showing 11K text messages.
The next night, October 31, 2015, the bears were in Halloween costumes and the number was still there., beccasafan's website
At the October 31 show, the last show of the tour, all the band members shared hugs, including Louis and Harry. It was one of the first times they touched at all or even acknowledged each other since 2013, which predictably led to a fandom-wide freak-out. @rbbsbbofficial tweeted its first text post after the concert, a goodbye and a promise to return., beccasafan's website Fans took comfort in RBB's tweet., 31 October 2015. As of 23 November 2021, this tumblr post has 829 notes. (In August 2015 1D had announced a hiatus, which many people concluded was an unofficial breakup.) Tumblr larrie louisandthealien thought the account had the same writing style as Harry. Another tumblr larrie tried to draw a connection between the H/L stage hug and the RBB tweet:
===Post OTRA Tour===
On November 4, 2015 @rbbsbbofficial tweeted a picture of RBB buckled into a red seat. RBB followers speculated that RBB was saying to "buckle up.", beccasafan's website
On November 15, @rbbsbbofficial "liked" its first tweet. Tweeted by @proudoflarry, it said “larry ok” as a reply to Tweet 24. Larries speculated that it might mean “Larry is real, ok?” or confirming that Larry was behind RBB/SBB., beccasafan's website Fans then tweeted "larry ok" at @rbbsbbofficial, twitter search 24 November 2021. and at Louis Tomlinson, twitter search 24 November 2021.; fewer fans tweeted this message at Harry Styles, twitter search 24 November 2021..
The tweet got unliked on November 19, the next time the twitter account was updated. Larries were undeterred."The liked tweet has also been unliked. Sure served its purpose though!" , beccasafan's website A tumblr fan posted a jokey memorial., posted by smellandcurls, reblogged by since-he-was-eighteen, 21 November 2015. As of 24 November 2021, this tumblr post has 1143 notes. Another tumblr fan made an anniversary post about the liked tweet a year later., tumblr post by obviouslymeandyou, 15 November 2016. As of 26 November 2021, this tumblr post has 1135 notes.
Also on November 19, @rbbsbbofficial updated its location to Los Angeles. According to tumblr user louisandthealien, the location update coincided with 1D landing in LA to do Jimmy Kimmel Live! (However, the timing may not be correct because 1D were in Burbank to tape the Ellen show on November 17th or 18th., 5 November 2015.) @rbbsbbofficial posted photos of RBB with several celebrity stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, all gay icons, but only in the section that was shut down for the One Direction street performance that night, according to larries. RBB visited Judy Garland, The Village People, and Liberace., , , beccasafan's website SBB visited Liza Minnelli, and larries thought it was especially significant that she happens to be Judy Garland's daughter (Liza Minnelli is also a gay icon)., beccasafan's website
That night on Jimmy Kimmel, there was an entire sketch where Kimmel asked 1D fans to follow an Instagram account for “the 1d potato” and made fun of fans for complying. The majority of the interview was about how crazy their fans are and plays into the “all 1d fans are tweens” trope. Upset and angry fans felt disrespected.
Later that night, @rbbsbbofficial seemed to acknowledge the fan response, tweeting a picture of an angry RBB and SBB, seated with a box of instant mashed potatoes, with RBB holding a potato masher and SBB wearing a "potato chef" hat. According to beccasafan, fans were specifically discussing mashing the potato. It seems that @rbbsbbofficial being responsive to fandom social media discussion may have been interpreted by larries as evidence that @rbbsbbofficial must also be seeing larrie speculation (also publicly discussed on social media) and therefore that any larrie symbols deployed by rbbsbbofficial were done with knowledge of their meaning. (Meanwhile, some twitter fans started tweeting "chicken stuffed with mozzarella wrapped in parma ham with a side of homemade mash" at @rbbsbbofficial, twitter search 24 November 2021., something mentioned in an interview years before that was widely considered by larries to be evidence for Harry and Louis being in a romantic relationship in real life.)
 On November 28, @rbbsbbofficial posted a picture of RBB watching Divine's Walk Like A Man video on a laptop. Larries had been freaking out because rumors surfaced that Louis was seen shopping for baby clothes with Briana (the baby's mother) after weeks of no celebrity gossip about Louis' baby, but they felt reassured by RBB tweeting soon after, theorizing that it was not a coincidence., twitter search 21 November 2021."babygate: *gets brought back up* rbb: anyyywaaaaayyyyy" , 29 November 2015. As of 21 November 2021, the tumblr post has 2,432 notes. Larries investigated the song itself and scrutinized the laptop for clues: The song is about a woman lying"So these are the lyrics to Divine’s “Walk Like a Man” which RBB was watching, and it’s all about a woman lying so.." , 28 November 2015. As of 21 November 2021, the tumblr post has 2,257 notes., and the video was paused at the lyric “she’s telling dirty lies.” (Larries believed this meant that Briana was lying about Louis being the father.) All the letters on the keyboard were blurred except those that spelled out RAINBOW. Larries also identified all the bookmarks in the browser's bookmarks bar, most of which were gay culture references or social media sites.
====December====
On December 1, @rbbsbbofficial updated its profile image to Divine; larries believed this was intended to communicate something to fans. Larries speculated that Harry tweeting "I have this some of the time", 1 December 2015. shortly after the profile picture change was not a coincidence. Harry's social media presence is often somewhat cryptic, and he has been known to tweet lyrics, so fans thought it might be a lyric from Hozier's "Cherry Wine". Larries thought that the preceding line in the song confirmed their belief that Harry was connected to the RBB twitter account. The lyric: "And it’s worth it, it’s divine.", tweet by larryflirtss, 1 December 2015., tweet by dimpledharrys_, 1 December 2015., 19 April 2017. As of 16 November 2021, this tumblr post has 513 notes.
On December 2, for the first time the band was asked about the bears. Larries scrutinized their reactions in the video and concluded that they became silent and briefly glanced at Louis. Harry said that he believed the crew kept it after being thrown on stage and taped to a scaffolding. Liam said that he didn't even know the bears existed. Larries speculated that this was unlikely, given how obvious they felt the bears were on stage. Tumblr user bulletprooflarry wrote a popular post five months later mocking what they saw as a very poor attempt at lying when put on the spot: ., posted to tumblr 23 May 2016. As of 25 November 2021, the post has 2835 notes.
According to tumblr user louisandthealien and beccasafan's website, on December 3, 2015, the RBB twitter account posted a "Throwback Thursday" picture of RBB dressed as Freddie Mercury from a show in South Africa. Fans immediately speculated about the meaning of the post and initially thought it was a message about the set list at an upcoming 1D television appearance, but then a few hours later, another interview denying that the band was behind the bears was published, so they reinterpreted the tweet to be about the interview. The interview was with Josh Devine, who specifically mentioned that fans read "hidden meaning in things" and there was no hidden meaning in the bears. Larries, who believe that band members post selfies as warnings to larries ("warning selfies") when news that contradicts larrie theories will soon be published, speculated that RBB's "Throwback Thursday" photo was meant as another warning to fans that misinformation would soon be published and that larries should ignore Josh Devine's interview., beccasafan's website. (Accessed 9 November 2021.)
On the same day, the official Twitter account updated its profile image to Freddie Mercury in a crown. Larries later speculated that this was based on the YouTuber freddieismyqueen’s name (despite images of Freddie Mercury wearing a crown during concerts being common). 
On December 7, @rbbsbbofficial updated its location to "Home, soon to return....!" Because Harry had just arrived back in the UK, while Louis was known to be en route to the UK, Larries speculated that this meant two locations: RBB (Harry) was home, and SBB (Louis) was soon to return home., twitter search on 23 November 2021., beccasafan's website On December 8, Louis tweeted the house emoji, and on December 9 RBB's location was updated to "London"; larries were thrilled, thinking that this proved a link between Louis and the @rbbsbbofficial account., 8 December 2015. A number of fans tweeted "home, soon to return" directly at Louis' twitter handle., twitter search on 23 November 2021. In a popular tumblr post, a larrie described the sequence of events and excitedly concluded "I LOVE SCIENCE"., 9 December 2015. As of 23 November this tumblr post has 1069 notes.
On December 12, @rbbsbbofficial updated its profile to The Judy Garland Christmas Album cover, beccasafan's website and the location to "RBB residence", beccasafan's website. Larries initially thought the bears just loved Judy for being an icon/code name; however some fans pointed out that, among the 100+ recordings by Garland, there were two called "I'm Just Wild About Harry," and "Skip to My Lou" (whose lyrics include "But if I do it's up to you, to let me dance with Harry") -- though neither appeared on her Christmas album. Larries were also thrilled by the location status change, and made comments about Harry and Louis living together., tweet by paulinelcrn, 12 December 2015., tweet by thickate, 24 December 2015., tweet by wayofgrunge, 14 December 2015., tweet by LarentsNewsPL, 12 December 2015., tweet by encagedbravery, December 2015., tweet by dubadduloml, 12 December 2015., tweet by hotgirljinnie, 12 December 2015.
On December 18, @rbbsbbofficial tweeted a photo of its paw putting a Hairspray DVD into a DVD player, with its media collection visible in the background. Larries researched, documented, and theorized about many of the items visible in the picture. A few of the books appeared to be same ones seen with the bears at concerts (the Bette Davis, Judy Garland, and Danny La Rue biographies), while others referenced the same icons RBB had referenced before (Divine, Freddie Mercury, Liberace). Larries linked a few other titles directly to their theories about babygate and Harry and Louis being forced to stay in the closet: Hotel Babylon and Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity. Beccasafan's website indicated that Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity (a nonfiction book debunking what it says in the title) could be a reference to the media lying about Larry; about Hotel Babylon (a nonfiction book about the hotel industry) beccasafan said "The Daily Mail has previously published an article from Pop Babylon on how to manufacture a boy band. Part of the plot involves a pregnancy with an unknown father.", beccasafan's website
On December 24, Louis' birthday, @rbbsbbofficial changed its profile to a picture of Divine holding a birthday cake for the day. Larries thought the profile change was a way for Harry to communicate Happy Birthday to Louis, because management was preventing him from tweeting it., tweet by yajairarauhls, 24 December 2015., tweet by its_dedication_, 24 December 2015., 24 December 2015. As of 16 November 2021, this tumblr post has 838 notes. (In reality, Liam also failed to tweet Happy Birthday to Louis, leaving Niall as the only 1D member allowed to date Louis publicly., tweet by NiallOfficial, 24 December 2015.)
On December 25, @rbbsbbofficial's profile changed again to an image of Army of Lovers, a campy pro-gay-rights Swedish band. (First, larries thought this was significant for confirming that the previous profile change was about Louis's birthday, even though a 1D-related account acknowledging Louis' birthday is entirely reasonable and does not prove anything about Larry. @rbbsbbofficial also seems to have acknowledged Harry's birthday, which larries thought was significant, but Liam and Niall's birthdays didn't happen during the few months the account was active, and Zayn had already left the band. @rbbsbbofficial may also have been playing to its audience's interests.) According to Wikipedia, Army of Lovers' name is an allusion to a documentary film on U.S. gay rights activism in the 1970s, which in turn is an allusion to the Sacred Band of Thebes.wikipedia:Army of Lovers, accessed 26 November 2021. Larries dug deeper, drawing a connection between bandmember Alexander Bard, and 1D, postulating that 1D could have met him in 2014 when he was a judge on Swedish Idol., 25 December 2015. As of 26 November 2021, the tumblr post has 21 notes. In addition, Army of Lovers has a single titled "Love Me Like a Loaded Gun," which Larries thought could possibly be a reference to the 1D song "No Control"., a Spanish-language RBB explainer posted to Wattpad. Machine translation: And as a bigger coincidence they have a single called "Love Me Like a Loaded Gun" when we know perfectly well that in the song "No Control" (which was written by Louis among other writers) from the album Four released in 2014, of the boys in a part of the scribe says "Waking up/Beside you I'm a loaded gun".
====2016: Babygate, Redux====
On January 4, 2016, @rbbsbbofficial changed its profile picture to a screenshot of Grace Jones saying, "This has been going on too long already," while being mistreated on the Russell Harmy Barty Show. Larries interpreted this profile update as a complaint about babygate, specifically in response to "Briana's family and fans" complaining about Louis abandoning Briana and dating Danielle, and claiming that Louis was like his biological father (who left his mother 10 days after Louis’ birth)., beccasafan's website
On January 18, @rbbsbbofficial changed its profile to the lead singer of the band Erasure, Andy Bell, who is openly gay., beccasafan's website Fans then started mentioning Andy Bell on twitter., twitter search 26 November 2021. When someone asked him if he knew what rainbow bondage bear was, he said, "don't know honey just saw it!", 18 January 2016. He then retweeted a tweet from Rainbow Direction's twitter account (possibly this tweet?)., tweet by homefromnarnia, 18 January 2016. (As of 2021, the retweet is not visible on his timeline.) Another fan tweeted, "We turned @AndyBell_info into a larrie 🐻 nice," and he replied, "proud to be a Larrie X", 18 January 2016. This tweet received many excited repliesSee also tweets mentioning his twitter handle and "Larry": , twitter search 26 November 2021., though it is unclear if Andy Bell knew what a larrie was.
On January 20 @rbbsbbofficial tweeted a picture of RBB putting an Erasure CD into its CD player. Other CDs were visible in the photo, and larries speculated about possible connections between the CDs and Larry. It was also suggested that the clock on the DVD player was a reference to Harry's birthday (02:01)., beccasafan's website
On January 22 @rbbsbbofficial tweeted a picture of RBB reading The Little Book of Calm. Because Louis's son Freddie Reign Tomlinson was born the previous day, which was upsetting to larries, larries believed that this was a message for them to stay calm and not worry, because the baby would turn out to be a PR stunt., beccasafan's website., tweet by onlyfansxannie, 22 January 2016., tweet by koowIuv, 24 January 2016., tweet by caressoul, 23 January 2016. Many larries on twitter were counseling each other to follow RBB's advice and stay calm., twitter search 26 November 2021.
On January 27, @rbbsbbofficial tweeted a picture of RBB and SBB with a bathroom tableau--RBB on the toilet reading a book fans thought was homemade (titled Coping with Diarrhoea) and SBB ready with a toilet brush. Fans thought it seemed like a repeat of the set piece at the Toronto concert. Fans were also excited to see happy green and blue stickers in the scene. Beccasafan described this tweet as occuring "amidst fandom chaos" related to babygate, Harry switching management companies, and rumors of Harry's solo career. The larrie interpretation of this photo seems to be that Harry and Louis were happy and that they were working to "clean up" the bullshit being spread by PR (the truth that Louis had a baby)., beccasafan's website
====Ending====
@rbbsbbofficial appeared to celebrate Harry's 22nd birthday on February 1, updating its icon to a picture of ducks on a rainbow ("two little ducks" is apparently bingo slang for 22), beccasafan's website, then tweeting a picture of RBB and SBB sitting next a birthday cake with the number "22" on it, beccasafan's website, then tweeting a picture of the bears messily eating the cake, beccasafan's website. 
louisandthealien noted, "This is the first time SBB is EVER pictured without glasses and the first time since the very early days that RBB does not have a costume on. This is also the first time in several posts that SBB has not been held up by strings (which some fans interpret as him being a ‘puppet’)." Beccasafan also noted the bears were holding hands and described the meaning of the tableau as "blatant", apparently interpreting it to mean that Harry and Louis were now free of disguises or artifice, able to be together. louisandthealien pointed to a news item the same day that all four 1D members had officially left Modest! Management (the PR team that many Larries blamed as perpetrators of H&L’s supposed closeting and other PR stunts such as babygate).
Although posting a birthday cake on a band member's birthday might seem like a straightforward message, some Larries theorized it to be a reference to 1D’s 2011 performance at the G.A.Y. club where Louis got cake smashed all over him. Others took the fact that the bears were “dirty”/”destroyed” to mean that a) Harry and Louis would no longer need to use them or b) they would have to be washed, which referenced a Larry theory headcanon that the day H&L came out would be “laundry day” (referencing a 2014 Harry tweet which read "it all comes out in the wash").
Not long after the bears tweeted, Harry tweeted, "I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22," which some larries thought was connected to the RBB updates (possibly just because of the timing?), tweet by rosa_1039, 1 February 2016. even though it was a reference to a well-known Taylor Swift song, Harry had indeed just turned 22, and other 1D members had also referenced the song on their own 22nd birthdays, tweet by Zayn Malik, 11 January 2015., Billboard, 09/14/2015..
On February 12, 2016 the @Rbbsbbofficial Twitter account was deactivated. It was then reported that on February 10 and 11 bigger Larry blogs on tumblr started receiving messages from shady anons that they should screenshot the bear's twitter. alltheselights' initial response indicated that anon asks like this were a daily occurrence, so confirmation bias might be in play."Awww, here’s the daily anon who is probably full of shit and ready to ruin peoples’ day based on zero accurate information." , 11 February 2016. As of 26 November 2021, this tumblr post has 7,163 notes. It is unclear how many tumblr accounts received these messages.
Some fans hypothesized that @Rbbsbbofficial's deletion was a sign of imminent coming out: 
But Larry did not come out. The band went on break, and RBB/SBB weren't seen for months. 
On August 27, 2016, RBB appeared on the stage of Little Mix's final show of their tour in Newmarket, England. This was the last time RBB was spotted. Larries hypothesized a link with the fact that, on August 20, Louis had liked a picture of Little Mix performing, and that Louis had arrived back in the UK on August 22., beccasafan's website, 27 August 2016. As of 26 November 2021, this tumblr post has 4,349 notes.
==General Comments on Theories==
===Larry===
Larries came to believe that RBB was a coded message sent from Harry and Louis to their fans, indicating that Larry is Real and that Babygate was a conspiracy. 
skepticalarrie posted her own opinion about the original purpose of RBB in a popular tumblr post:
Other fans, including Anti-Larries, believed that it was an elaborate prank, probably meant to make fun of Larries. Some fans expressed doubt about how much the person behind the bears understood about how the bears were being interpreted by the fandom:
tellmethisisnotlove created a masterpost about "Coincidental" Harry and Louis Links to RBB and the RBB twitter which listed over 50 supposed links, for example the blue and green stickers on RBB's feet. In multiple theories, blue and green represent Louis and Harry because of their eye colors and the color coding on their mics. Thus they believed that the bears were signs sent by Harry and Louis, and indicated the status of their relationship: 
===Ziam===
Some Ziam tinhats saw RBB (and many other events taken as "Larry proof" by Larries) to be about their own preferred oppressed closeted gay couple, as evidenced by the speculation that the RBB countdown in 2015 did in fact count down to something (the Liam/Sophia breakup), and more: 
Ziam fans seem to subscribe to the theory that Louis was behind RBB, and was using it to hint at the state of the Zayn/Liam relationship, in much the same way that Larries analysed it to decipher the supposed state of Louis/Harry: 
===Queerbaiting?===
Many 1D fans criticized the RBB shenanigans as being queerbaiting: 
Sometimes Larries themselves admitted that, if RBB weren't about Larry being real, then it would be queerbaiting: 
Others believed that RBB was a prank or running joke from a queer crewmember, which had nothing to do with Larry: 
===Trolling===
Many factions of the fandom thought that RBB and associated accounts might have been trolling fans, though they did not necessarily agree on who was doing the trolling. 
Larries oftten accused whoever was behind RBB of trolling when their predictions based on signs sent by RBB didn't pan out. For example, the day before the 2015 countdown ended: 
In Janary 2016, a few days after the birth of Louis' son, as RBB was making references to diahrrhea: 
Others thought the trolling might have been done by 1DHQ (though why isn't clear). For example, when RBB appeared at the Little Mix concert: 
==Who Did It==
===Official Sources===
The identity of the person responsible for the bear has never been confirmed, but when asked in interviews multiple people have said it was a crew member. 
In a December 2015 interview with Entertainment Weekly, drummer Josh Devine said:
Also in December 2015, in a video with KIIS staff in Texas, 1D was asked about "the rainbow bear", and Harry replied:
In a July 2017 podcast interview with PopBuzz, Louis was asked if he was behind RBB and said:
The video podcast was embedded in an article on the PopBuzz website. The article framed Louis' response as unreliable by including a picture of him during a concert looking in the direction of RBB and commenting, "Hmmmm. Not sure we entirely believe Mr Tomlinson, do you?" Larries took this as evidence that Louis' answer could not be taken at face value.
===Fan Speculation===
Fans tried to figure out who was behind the bears, and named multiple members of the 1D crew as suspects. They tended to agree that it was someone who was on both the Where We Are Tour and the On The Road Again Tour. 
Initially many fans believed that drummer Josh Devine was responsible, but he denied it.
No one on the 1D crew publicly claimed responsibility for the bear. 
====The Choreographer Connexion====
On December 14, 2015 an Oh No They Didn't post made a coy reference to the bear being planted by a choreographer, writing:
Paul Roberts, the band's choreographer, is an openly gay, theatre-loving member of the inner circle. On the day of the Jimmy Kimmel appearance, he posted pictures of Judy Garland's handprints on Hollywood Boulevard just as RBB's account posted a picture of the bear on the Judy Garland star.
Fans have also pointed out that he would have had the knowledge of LGBT+ culture needed to make the references in RBB & SBB's costumes, props and sets. by cynthiag260, Nov 20, 2015. Reblogged by bravotmz01.
====The Sound Engineer Theory====
A prominent theory named Mark Littlewood, a front-of-house sound engineer, as the bears' mastermind. 
Tumblr user themanbehindthebear laid out the arguments for Mark: by themanbehindthebear, posted to tumblr 27 August 2016. 735 notes as of 31 August 2016. (Accessed 1 November 2021.) 
* The bear appeared in the first shot of a video interview with Mark alone in the arena., youtube video by ThinkingSound, 19 November 2015. As of 1 November 2021, the video has 14,126 views and 8 comments. 
* A job center in Chorey, where Mark lived, seemed to be in the background of an RBB photo. 
* Drag queens from some RBB photos were also asked for details and allegedly described the person with the bears as an "old man". 
themanbehindthebear's post was reblogged as a debunk by anti-larries as late as 2017., by shit-larries-say, 23 October 2017.
Tumblr discussions among anti-larries show other reasons in circulation. thelarrative shared information that RBB had been spotted at Little Mix shows, and Mark was known to have joined the Little Mix tour after 1D ended. A larrie masterpost on RBB had also mentioned the Little Mix concerts, but tied it to Louis's proximity., masterpost by tumblr user louisandthealien, 9 December 2015. The tumblr post has 10,858 notes as of 6 November 2021.
Allegedly Mark also owned a Rolex watch, something that was once seen on RBB.. Watch and Little Mix comments in this post: , 29 August 2016. 
This theory, like all others, has never been confirmed.
====Louis and Harry Themselves====
Larries tended to believe that the band members themselves were behind the bears. 
Many larries speculated that crew members who don't have millions of dollars wouldn't have a Rolex (which might have been untrue in the case of Mark Littlewood) or spend a thousand dollars on the bears, or have the time to set up the bears when they were on the clock. 
As one fan argued:
However, the assumptions about the bears being personally paid for by their mastermind, the free time of crew members, or their supposed salary/ability to own a Rolex were unsupported by evidence. 
Most people who think that Larry Stylinson did it cite some or all of the following: 
* Harry and Louis were rich enough to afford RBB and SBB's clothing
* On July 27, 2015 the bears were holding objects that Harry and Louis were seen with the day before, ice cream and McDonalds respectively
* There was a picture of Larry Grayson signed "Love Larry" onstage once
* RBB wore green stickers and Harry's eyes and microphone colors were green while SBB work blue sticksers and Louis' eyes and mircophone colors were green
* There was a reflection of what the fandom thought was Louis in the bear's sunglasses once. The picture was quickly taken down and ever reflective surface was blurred in pictures after that
* The one time the band was asked about the bears, they would glance between Harry and Louis
* The Bears changed their profile picture to celebrate Louis' birthday and on Harry's 22nd birthday they had a cake with a "22" candle on it
* Multiple times Harry or Louis tweet within 20 minutes of the Bears tweeting. On one particular occasion Louis tweeted 41 seconds before the bears
* The RBBSBB Twitter account's first and only like was a tweet that said "larry ok"
* The RBBSBB twitter icon at one point was Judy Garland’s Christmas album which included the songs "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Skip to My Lou." Skip to my Lou also has the lyric "But if I do it's up to you, to let me dance with Harry"
* On 14 December 2016 Harry was at a recruitment center. Exactly a year previous RBB had been there.
* One night RBB took pictures with drag queens at a bar. The same night Louis was photographed with fans across the street from that bar.
* Fans also thought writing and photography were hobbies that Harry and the bears shared
tellmethisisnotlove created a masterpost called "Masterpost about the “coincidental” Harry and Louis links to RBB and the RBB twitter" it had 63 "coincidences" when it was last updated.
Note that all of those are circumstantial. None of those reasons listed disqualify a person or people close to the band, such as a crewmember or several, who would participate in post-gig outings, be in the same places and have roughly the same work hours/free time as the band. The references to Harry and Louis and the events of the Larry canon could justifiably be simple trolling of a fandom trend which was frequently making mainstream news at the time.
As one fan highlighted: 
====The 1DHQ Hypothesis====
Some Larries seemed to believe that at least some RBB appearances were due to 1DHQ, maybe in a bid to keep fans invested in the band: 
This hints at the fact that fans might have believe some RBB occurrences were "real" while others weren't. 
===Cost===
A fan tried to calculate roughly the amount spent on the bears from Sydney, February 7 of 2015 to Los Angeles, November 28th of 2015., tumblr post by rbbearents, reblogged by larrywillbefree on 6 December 2015. As of 2 November 2021, the tumblr post has 2394 notes.
They figured out that there were 217 props total used during that time. Not counting people, portraits, RBB himself, or stickers, or the Macbook or Rolex watches (which were presumably not only bought for RBB) there were 186 props. 
The fan tracked down prices for 68 of them (others being too generic -- a banana, a skateboard, sparkly tiaras; too weird, or impossible to find -- the unicorn, the horse, some jewelry box chair, etc.). The fan concluded,
Another possible theory is that the bear set pieces were authorized and paid for by the tour or the band.
==Resources==
* Rainbow Bondage Bear Masterpost, by Tellmethisisnotlove (November 25, 2015).
* RIP Rainbow Bondage Bear (archived) by hiddensymposiarch (August 14, 2014). Post made when fans thought they'd seen the last of RBB
* rainbow bear masterpost (archived) by rbbupdates (August 26, 2015)
* RBB and the Countdown (archived), English translation of a Spanish-language tumblr post by investigando-rbb that analyzes RBB's secret messages about Larry coming out. (October 24, 2015)
* May I ask for your thoughts on the Bears (RBB & SBB) and the intention of those behind these bears? (archived) anon ask answered by i-swear-i-used-to-hate-them (April 5, 2016)
* (RBB & SBB for Dummies) (archived) by louisandthealien (updated August 27, 2016)
* 1D's Rainbow Bondage Bear and Sugar Baby Bear - fansite for cataloging bear appearances
* You're contradicting yourself if you believe H&L were behind the rainbow bears but also that Louis is father. a babygate RBB&SBB masterpost by skepticalarrie
==Fanwork Examples==
* rainbow bear :D by susumzee (June 2014)
* untitled June 2014 and September 2015 art by rosketch
* utitled October 2015 art by lying-here-i-counting-hours
*Rainbow Bondage Bear tag at AO3
==References==
Category:One Direction
Category:One Direction Fandom Glossary
Category:2021 Featured Articles
Category:2014 Events
Category:2015 Events
Category:2016 Events