Fontaine Futuristics (Business)

Fontaine Futuristics was a business conglomerate run and owned by Frank Fontaine, and one of the largest companies dealing with genetic enhancements and electronic systems in Rapture. It was the heart of biotechnology in the city, but also oversaw various other business endeavors owned by Fontaine. It was nationalized by Andrew Ryan after Fontaine's "death", much to the chagrin of council member Bill McDonagh,Bill McDonagh's Audio Diary: Ryan Takes F Futuristics and inciting civil unrest. It was also one of the factors that led to the Rapture Civil War.
==Under Frank Fontaine==
Fontaine funded Brigid Tenenbaum's research of ADAMFrank Fontaine's Audio Dairy: Kraut Scientist after her discovery of the substance being produced by a Sea Slug. With the profit generated by his illegal smuggling operation using Fontaine Fisheries as a front, he created Fontaine Futuristics to carry on her work, with the addition of the genius biologist Yi Suchong. To this was added several other operations such as the Little Sister's Orphanages, used to acquire girls to produce more ADAM, but also the facilities to make them Little Sisters.
The genetic research department of the company was once based in Point Prometheus which encompassed other laboratories working similar fields of research, and this allowed the creation of the first Plasmids and Gene Tonics for consumer use. The company's headquarters were built on the edge of the ocean trench from which the slugs came, enabling an early monopoly on the supply of ADAM.Unused radio message from the BioShock 2 audio files, by Augustus Sinclair: "Fontaine was one savvy old crook. He built this HQ on the edge of an ocean trench so deep it might as well be bottomless, and why? Because the slugs that carry ADAM crawl right up out of it. Heaven knows what lies below, but the proximity surely helped him corner the supply." —VO_ABY_R_Sinc_OldCrook in Bio2_DX_07_08_09_ALL_Stream.fsb Eventually, Fontaine Futuristics contracted Sinclair Solutions to rent out test subjects from Persephone, which was located in the trench near the headquarters.
Work continued under Fontaine until his death during the shootout between Ryan Security and the smugglers in Neptune's Bounty. The Rapture Central Council voted on giving stewardship of Fontaine's assets to Ryan Industries, much to the outcry of a large part of the population.
===The Plasmid Business===
Fontaine achieved vertical integration in the Plasmid business, by owning every step of the process:
*Fontaine Fisheries - Where the slugs were found, but also a front for the smuggling operation financing the research.
*Little Sister's Orphanages - Facilities made to acquire girls and generate more ADAM by converting them into Little Sisters.
*Little Wonders Educational Facility - Education centers to physically and mentally convert the girls into Little Sisters capable of generating ADAM.
*Fontaine Futuristics Genetic Research Dept. - ADAM research, and the creation of Plasmids and Gene Tonics, which Fontaine profited from.
*Fontaine Futuristics - For public demonstration, marketing studies and advanced ADAM research. The headquarters was also built close to the source of the Sea Slugs.
*Fontaine's Department Store - A large department store, directly selling products from Fontaine's businesses such as Plasmids, housewares, clothes, books, and personal Bathyspheres. Also included were several recreational businesses and others not connected to Fontaine Futuristics.
However, Fontaine was not able to achieve a horizontal ADAM monopoly due to competition in Plasmid and Gene Tonic production from Ryan Industries and Sinclair Solutions.
===Subsidiaries, Products and Services===
*Accu-Vox Audio Diaries
*Private Bathyspheres, and the speed control systems for the public bathyspheres.
**Bathyspheres DeLuxe
*Dandy Dental
*Enhanced CosmeticsSeen on make-up boxes, found in Cupid's Arrow.
*Fontaine Clinics
*Fontaine CourtAtlantic Express Train Schedule.
*Fontaine Field (semi-canon)A baseball field advertised in the BioShock 2 Strategy Guide.
*Fontaine Fire Fighters (semi-canon)Deco Devolution Artbook.
*Fontaine Fruits (semi-canon)Fontaine Fruits Advertisement Present in the Multiplayer version of the Farmer's Market.
*Fontaine Fisheries
**Fontaine's Finest Sardines"Fontaine's Finest Sardines" label on Frag Grenades in BioShock.
**Plump Mussels
**Sterner Brand Sea MeatsFishing company under Fontaine Fisheries. Example location of advertisement: The Fishbowl Diner of Pauper's Drop.
*Fontaine Futuristics Genetic Research Dept.
*Fontaine Hi Power Ammo
*Fontaine Packaging Corporation
*Fontaine Press
*Fontaine Sugar Co. Limited (semi-canon)Label on bags of sugar in the multiplayer version of the Kashmir Restaurant. Founded in 1950.
*Fontaine ToysSeen on a basketball in Ryan the Lion Preparatory Academy's Gymnasium in Burial at Sea - Episode 2.
*Fontaine's Department Store
*Fontaine's Home for the Poor
*Fontaine's Machinery Co.
*Gene Tonics
*Little Sister's Orphanage
*Little Wonders Educational Facility
**Little Sisters
*Manta Ray Lounge
*Oxygen servicesJulie Langford's Arcadia and Oxygen
*Plasmids
*Power to the People vending machines
*Smuggled goods and contraband
*Various creams, pills, injections, and cosmetics, as seen on a billboard.:File:Fontaine Creams Pills Injections.png
*Various kitchen and cleaning appliances:Appliances
**Blenders
**Dishwashers
**Fontaine-Vac
**Mixers
**Ovens
**Qwik-Wik Dryer
**Radar Range
**Refrigerators
**Toasters
**Waffle irons
**Washing machines
===Employees===
*Antoine
*Brigid Tenenbaum (formerly)
*Garris Fisher
*Gilbert Alexander (formerly)
*J. YangA Fontaine Futuristics employee who performed an inspection on a circuitry board in Andrew Ryan's office in Rapture Central Control.
*Lance
*Louie McGraff
*Naz
*Peach Wilkins (formerly)
*Reggie
*Sammy G.
*Yi Suchong (formerly)
====Employees at Fontaine's Department Store====
*Bert Unger
*Edith Crenshaw
*Florence Baxter
*Kay Flannigan
*Ray Lardner
*Sal Cantone
*Samantha Kemp
*Shirley Womack
==Under Ryan Industries==
When Andrew Ryan took control of the business, he converted Fontaine's own department store into a prison for followers of Fontaine and employees opposing the nationalization,Sander Cohen's Audio Diary: Doing Well by Doing Good as well as troublemakers and even unstable Splicers. Both Yi Suchong and Brigid Tenenbaum were offered jobs at Ryan Industries to continue their work, though the latter eventually disappeared and covertly started working to revert Little Sisters back into normal human beings. Fontaine had obtained many little girls to secretly create Little Sisters using those voluntarily given to him through the Little Sister's Orphanage program, but that activity was exposed and ended after his demise. Kidnapping of little girls for the same use then started. With Tenenbaum's disappearance, Yi Suchong continued creating Little Sisters. There appears to have been budgeting constraints under Ryan, as Suchong described him as a "cheap son of a bitch" compared to Fontaine.Yi Suchong's Audio Diary: Cheap Son of a Bitch
Unlike Fontaine, Ryan saw no need to hide from the citizens of Rapture the Little Sisters he had inherited. He brought them into the public eye by creating the Gatherer's Garden vending machines to replace the Gene Bank in selling Plasmids and Gene Tonics. These vending machines featured large figurines of smiling Little Sisters on either side. He also presented the Little Wonders Educational Facilities as educational schools for young girls, in reality being processing centers for Little Sisters. Later, Ryan changed their role in Rapture's society, sending them out into the streets to gather additional ADAM from corpses as the growing tension began to cause an increase in violence and death in the city. The number of people dying on the streets greatly increased when the Rapture Civil War began. In response to the disquiet the Little Sisters caused among the citizens, Ryan created several public address announcements suggesting that the Little Sisters were performing a noble service and helping in re-establishing Rapture back to a stable state.
Before their introduction to the streets, Ryan had commissioned in advance both Dr. Suchong and electronics expert Dr. Alexander to create protectors for the little girls, since they were vulnerable to attacks by Splicers when searching the city for ADAM. This resulted in the creation of the Alpha Series, protectors tasked to guard a single Little Sister with their lives. These protectors ultimately proved a failure by the start of 1959 due to a number of issues. With no other option, the conversion of Big Daddies, genetically enhanced workers in diving suits originally created by Suchong for Rapture's underwater work and maintenance, into Protectors bonded to Little Sisters was decided as the solution. This was mainly due to the fact that a large population of Rosie and Bouncer Big Daddies already existed, the only thing left was to find a way to bond them to the girls. An answer through the Daddies' need of ADAM to survive was found by Suchong in an accident that cost him his life, and thus the new Protectors were introduced to the raging streets of Rapture in the early stages of its civil war, completing a cycle vital for both sides of the conflict.
The headquarters of the company were eventually condemned sometime after the end of the Protector program,Andrew Ryan's Audio Diary: Alone at Last with most of its genetic research laboratories and facilities operated from Point Prometheus. Fontaine Futuristics definitely ceased activity after the death of Andrew Ryan, only to be reopened by Alexander when ADAM production became too low for the needs of its surviving inhabitants and to fuel the city's new leader's utopian plans, psychiatrist Dr. Sofia Lamb.
==Gallery==
Fontaine Creams Pills Injections.png|Fontaine Creams Pills Injections advertisement.
Fontaine Futuristics inspection plaque.png|A Fontaine Futuristics inspection plaque.
Fontaine Average Joe Hercules.jpg|Advertisement for Fontaine Futuristics with their jingle.
Fontaine Futuristics Stronger Arm & Sharper Brain Poster.png|"Stronger Arm & Sharper Brain? The Answer is Fontaine Futuristics."
Fontaine Futuristics We Are Your Future Poster.png|"Fontaine Futuristics We Are Your Future."
Neptune-Bathyspher Control.jpg|A close-up of the Bathysphere lever with the Fontaine Corp. logo.
Vice-Font-Mach-Co.png|The Fontaine's Machinery Co. logo on a vice.
Fontaine Futuristics Door Point Prometheus.png|A Fontaine Futuristics Genetic Research Department door discarded after Ryan's takeover.
==Behind the Scenes==
*As seen in the image above, the company is also called Fontaine Corporation on bathyspheres' speed levers.
==References==
es:Fontaine Futuristics
fr:Fontaine Futuristics
it:Fontaine Futuristics (Azienda)
ru:Фонтейн Футуристикс (компания)
Category:Rapture Businesses