Summary The Beanie Bubble movie fictionalizes certain aspects of the real-life Beanie Babies craze for pacing and narrative purposes.
The film changes the names of the real women involved, but their inspirations played important roles in the success of Ty Inc.
The movie focuses on Ty Warner’s interest in stuffed toys, although in real life, his business pursuits initially centered on music boxes.
This article contains discussions of abuse and controlling behavior.
Although the movie offers hope to disenfranchised viewers, The Beanie Bubble changes many details from the darker true story it’s based on. The Apple TV Plus film highlights the three women behind the success of the beloved ’90s toy, Beanie Babies. Its narrative points out the problem with uncredited work and relays the message that people facing injustices should stand up for themselves. Based on Zac Bissonnette’s book, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, the movie draws from real life for its plot and characters.
From the start, The Beanie Bubble offers full transparency about which parts of the story are fictionalized and which ones aren’t. A title card reads, “There are parts of the truth you just can’t make up. The rest, we did.” This statement is both humorous and accurate to the film. The Beanie Bubble includes some of the more bizarre true events of the Beanie Babies craze, including Ty giving Beanie Babies as holiday bonuses and people scrambling to steal them from a truck that crashed. Despite these accuracies, the movie fictionalizes some of the storylines to improve the pacing and messaging.
6 The Beanie Bubble Changed Female Character Names
Robbie, Sheila, and Maya are the trio of women that The Beanie Bubble focuses on, with each of them narrating part of the movie. In The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, readers are introduced to the women who inspired these characters. Robbie is based on Patricia Roche, Ty’s business partner who helped get Ty Inc. off the ground before becoming a successful UK executive. Sheila’s real-life counterpart is Faith McGowan, a single mother of two who was in a relationship with Ty throughout the Beanie boom. Maya is inspired by Lina Trivedi, a college student who was paid $12 an hour while boosting Warner’s net worth.
5 Ty Warner Was Focused On Music Boxes Before Stuffed Toys
In The Beanie Bubble, Ty is interested in stuffed toys from the start. According to Bissonnette’s book, the real-life Warner worked for a company that sold stuffed toys. He did play with the idea of making a better stuffed animal than his employer. However, his business pursuits initially focused on music boxes. Warner partnered up with a craftsman named Pasquale Capra to make porcelain Otagiri music boxes, a short-lived partnership fraught with tension. By focusing Ty’s interests on stuffed toys, The Beanie Bubble becomes less accurate but more focused, a choice that benefits its narrative.
4 The Real Robbie Wasn’t A Ty Inc. Cofounder
At the beginning of The Beanie Bubble, Robbie and Ty found Ty Inc. together. The Beanie Bubble’s true story is much messier than what’s shown. According to The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, Roche wasn’t a cofounder of the company; however, she did work with Ty Inc. from the moment it started selling stuffed toys. In fact, Roche sat on the floor of Warner’s apartment stuffing their first Persian cat, the product that drew their first customers. At the time, the company didn’t even have a name or logo. Regardless of her work, Roche never got a title at Ty Inc. and only received pay based on a verbal agreement.
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3 The Real Reason Robbie Broke Up With Ty & Left The Company
The Beanie Bubble shows Robbie and Ty breaking up due to him ignoring and overlooking her work. This was a factor in Roche’s frustrations, but it wasn’t the true cause of their breakup. In Bissonnette’s book, Roche explains that she broke up with Warner due to his possessiveness and alleged abuse. According to Roche, Warner isolated her from her friends and family, slowly chipping away at her support system. This allowed him to assert that he was the only one who cared about her. Warner’s alleged mental abuse is hinted at in The Beanie Bubble when he begins recording Robbie and using her statements against her.
Warner also allegedly financially abused Roche, refusing to give her an official title at the company despite her role in Ty Inc.’s success. He also switched her to a flat fee that was one-fourth the amount she made from her sales commissions. Because of this, Roche had zero financial stability outside of Warner. The Beanie Bubble shows Robbie returning to Ty Inc. of her own accord, taking her power back. This contrasts with the bleaker true story of The Beanie Bubble. In reality, Roche had no money and nowhere to live, forcing her to live with and work for Warner.
Roche also accused Warner of following her both before and after their breakup. Immediately after their breakup, Roche claimed that Warner showed up in the parking lot of her apartment complex. Then, when Roche and a new love interest went on vacation to Cancun, Warner appeared in their hotel room, pretending to be room service. Her date asked if she wanted him to leave and she responded, “No. I don’t want you going anywhere. I don’t know what he’ll do.” These stalking allegations allude to a darker side of Warner, which isn’t shown in The Beanie Bubble.
In The Beanie Bubble, Sheila stops communicating with Ty after punching him in the face at a hotel. Real life is more complex than in the movie. McGowan spent years in a relationship with Warner, not recognizing his mistreatment of her and her daughters. Even after punching Warner in the face, McGowan found a way to forgive his infidelity because she truly loved him. The two stayed together for some time after this incident. McGowan eventually recognized that she and her daughters had nothing, a fact that angered and terrified her. Warner and McGowan split shortly after she began standing up for herself.
Once the two broke up, Warner and McGowan stayed in contact for a while through phone calls. The contact tapered off with time, but it reignited in 2004, when she decided to write a memoir exposing Warner. Warner called her shortly after the book announcement, speaking to her for 10 hours. It’s unknown how long the two stayed in contact after this, but McGowan was able to provide Bissonnette with commentary and information on Warner’s life after that point. As such, it can be assumed that they had some kind of contact, even if it focused solely on Warner’s business.
1 The Real Maya’s Career Journey Was Much Different Before & After Ty Inc.
The Great Beanie Baby Bubble reveals that Trivedi studied sociology at university prior to her work at Ty Inc. By contrast, The Beanie Bubble portrays Maya as a university student pursuing med school. Trivedi never studied pre-med or planned on going to med school, though she did consider attending law school after finishing her Bachelor’s degree. She ultimately completed her degree and graduated from DePaul University rather than dropping out like in The Beanie Bubble.
This isn’t the only inaccuracy about Trivedi in The Beanie Bubble. In the movie, Maya works with Pokémon after her time at Ty Inc. Due to the lack of information about Trivedi’s first business, nothing confirms her work with this popular toy company. According to Bissonnette’s book, her business worked with big-name musicians like Mötley Crüe and The Spice Girls. Despite this, the consulting company quickly flopped and went under. The true story may not paint the positive, empowering message that the ending of The Beanie Bubble strives for. However, Trivedi will always be the woman who made Beanie Babies a billion-dollar business.
Source: The Great Beanie Baby Bubble