Soda Pop Wheeler

About

Soda Pop Wheeler is a fake Stranger Things character who resembles Nancy Wheeler physically but has specific differentiating characteristics, including that she always stays inside, has a gluten allergy and naturally produces her own vitamin D. The character was created on TikTok in December 2022 and inspired similarly named parodies of Stranger Things characters, such as Waxcandle Wheeler, Blueballon Byers and Pookie Pie Byers.

Origin

The origins of Soda Pop Wheeler are uncertain. On or around December 9th, 2022, a now-deleted TikToker named @sodapopwheeler posted a video presumably of Nancy Wheeler from Stranger Things where she calls her "Soda Pop Wheeler," likely to the original sound for "Soda Pop" by Michael Wheeler. The alleged originator posted a video to a new TikTok^[1] account, @sodapopwheelers, on December 13th, 2022, explaining how their original account was hacked and deleted (shown below).

Later that day, @sodapopwheelers posted several Soda Pop Wheeler videos to TikTok,^[2] including a slideshow post captioned "the OG soda pop wheeler" that shows several variations of Soda Pop Wheeler looks (slide examples shown below). It is possible this is a reupload of the original video.

Some of the earliest videos referencing Soda Pop Wheeler are fancam edits of Nancy Wheeler set to "Soda Pop," claiming she is Soda Pop Wheeler, as well as videos wondering what Soda Pop Wheeler means (examples from December 9th and 10th of 2022 shown below, respectively).

Spread

Over the following days, TikTokers began posting more Soda Pop Wheeler fancams and content, expanding on her lore by giving her specific characteristics. On December 11th, 2022, TikToker^[3] @moonageghost posted a video where she discusses several traits of Soda Pop Wheeler, garnering over 154,000 views in three days (shown below, left). Some TikTokers^[4] also started making new fake Stranger Things characters with similar absurd names (example shown below, right).

Some TikTokers shared their dislike of the meme and the characters outside of Soda Pop Wheeler as it went viral, claiming the oversaturation and sudden explosion of the meme ruined the joke. For example, on December 12th, TikToker^[5] @spfcora posted a video sharing her distaste for the meme, garnering over 48,000 views in two days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References