Fontaine's Department Store

* See also Fontaine and Atlas
* See also Burial_At_Sea_Illogic
* See also Rapture Economy
* See also Infinitized_Bigification
* See also Businesses and Existing_Businesses and Types_of_businesses_City_could_have
== "FONTAINES" ==
UH, RIIIIIGHT - Even Huger than the original Too Tall Buildings
Model of Fontaine's Department Store. A wonderful bit of Fantasy with SOOOOO many things wrong with it. ( Don't ever let a game designer/developers create things for the Real World, or MANY innocent people will die ... )
--- --- --- --- ---
How soon "Fontaine's Department Store" started being used as a 'Prison'? We don't know ( the whole Suchong BD/Gil/Alphas events complicates/overlaps this ). Fontaine had available lots of resources, and with the apparent ease that Booker/Elizabeth arrived there, a question might be why HE had not long-previously escaped. Fontaines Department Store is like no Proper temporary 'Prison' I ever heard of ( and rather convenient for the DLC's plot ). It is all too loose a story : If Splicers were 'caught' to put them there, then chaining them up under supervision and NOT letting them run free is a logical measure for any expediency involved - But THAT was not done (( pretty pathetic - but its "the plot" they chose ... it IS "DLC" after all, which generally has a notoriety for slackness )).
--- --- ---
Lockedup In a Department Store ???
I usually use the phrase "dangerously insane", as in someone too disruptive/dangerous to the ordinary population -- Too bad we didn't get alot of in-game Newsie evidence of what the unstable Splicers were starting to do ( just as individuals, before Atlas's coordinated actions ). There should have been public support for locking such miscreants up, even by people with family members/friends as the ones 'restrained'. This isn't a case of 'for their own good', but for Public Safety. Supposedly the Department Store 'Prison' was to be temporary ( which might justify the way it appears thrown together haphazardly, if the authors much thought about it logically ). Containment there for an interim for public safety ( the dates used in the story indicate a very short time, upto the BaS present time -- even if extended more across the 3.5 month from the Neptune Bounty "Shootout" Incident ). Persephone has its Therapy Wing ( at minimum to neutralize troublesome inmates ), so Ryan obviously didn't just discard (kill) the affected people. It is possible that family members would pay to have their ADAM-Crazy loved ones be treated and 'recover'.
In any case, Fontaine's whole organization wasn't just in the Fisheries smuggling, but there was the whole of : Distribution of the smuggled goods, the alluded-to Extortions he did, the operators of the orphanage Child Enslavement ( and those up the food chain of that illegally generated ADAM, and who knows what other criminal operations ). Hundreds of people across Rapture were probably suspect, and it is likely many were let go as not being directly involved, or had been proved as being forced under coercion ( Jails cost money to operate, so Ryan would probably NOT incarcerate people who merely had worked for Fontaine ... ) The numbers of 'inmates' ( including the corpses ) we see in "Fontaines" in BaSx are only a few dozens ( which also begs the question : Why so absurdly large a place ? ).
--- --- ---
Fancy sign ( which virtually noone would see ) was more effort by itself than was put into the rest of this 'prison' we are shown. Game "artists" ...........
OMG OMG theres an actually 'barrier' there ... That hardly could stop anybody. ( WHERES the Guard office ??? WHERE ARE THE GUARDS ???? ) So sad. So lame.
--- --- --- 
In the BaSx DLC - there is ths Mall where Atlas & Co are locked up and Elizabeth (and Booker) must go to find 'Sally'. 
Original the place was a mall/conglomeration of stores and 'departments'. Very Strangely, it is used as a prison to lockup Splicers, criminals and Atlas. 
It is the Strangest/most Incompetent Prison I've ever seen ( seemingly done by the game designers to facilitate a Blast-Fest combat atmosphere ).
A fancy 'artist' exterior design that is highly impractical and actually does NOT match the interior spaces used in the game.
--- --- ---
A Prison
As far as being a 'prison', its like no proper 'prison' (temporary or otherwise) I ever heard of. Its a sad JOKEImages of REAL PRISONS are so endemic/cliche/well-known in our culture - It is hard to fathom how fucked up this Department Store Prison idea is -- EXCEPT for an simpletons agenda of showing off the mighty works of FONTAINE and all the other blithering Denny's Napkin ideas the DLC third-stringers came up with to fillout the content. The game developers of BS2 knew what a 'Prison' really was and showed it.. Its an excuse to have Splicers running about for the Player to shoot. Its all too loose a story - if Splicers were recently 'caught' to put them there, then chaining them up and not letting them run free would have been a logical option for expediency - but it wasn't done.
--- --- ---
BaS1 -- That 'Department Store' Was a Lousy Prison Contrived For FAIL :
The place isn't a very good prison - unsupervised/not secured and apparently full of weapons, supplies and Plasmids for Fontaine's ( and now Atlas's ) goons. Prisoners would in real life be thoroughly searched before transport to this 'temporary' prison. 'Temporary' probably because there wasn't space in Persephone (yet). Perhaps it would later be 'floated' over to Persephone and appended to the Penal Colony there. Food seems to be being supplied for the inmates, and the heat/air/power/water are still connected (not exactly sure what this 'Sunk' actually implies then - BTW the model diorama doesn't show the 2 separate 'department' buildings floating, or solidly connected to the central structure, yet they somehow came with the floating part ???). 
The entire 'prison' (location) should have been searched and cleared/cleaned out ( at least due to the City Authorities looking for evidence of Fontaine's many crimes and to apprehend his gang members ), OR be suspected of holding hidden caches and thus never be used for that purpose. The prisoners would be the people involved directly in Fontaine's criminal schemes ( the Smuggling in particular ), and those who attacked City Authorities when they came to arrest Fontaine (at Neptune's_Bounty_Shootout), and NOT just the ordinary workers from his other businesses.
There probably would be few public supporters for the criminal Fontaine, as there would be later for a 'rebel' Atlas. Customers and ordinary employees should have been fully cleared from the building before the Prisoners arrived ( and they might as well have removed all the merchandise, certainly anything that could be used as a weapon ). SO that would take time ? The standard procedure would have all the prisoners restrained in chains first in some other location after their arrest ( the cooler in Fontaine Fisheries perhaps with the cooling turned off ) until THIS building was sufficiently prepared.
The whole 'sunk' thing sounds like the invention of journalists ( if not just sounding 'good' to hack writers ), as it wasn't apparently the case in the DLC ( even just moving it somehow without disconnecting/breaking the lifesupport utilities is absurd ). Proper preparations for the building would start with closing-off and sealing all exits except one controlled and guarded access. The store layout wouldn't be designed for proper prison operations or even hygiene, so movements within could be restricted with heavily armed guards moving small groups of (likely shackled) prisoners to use facilities or to be fed. Any inmates who attempted to escape or attack guards would be shot down ( this was standard 40s mentality when prison inmates weren't coddled ). Eventually, proper prison facilities would be created in the City.
Legal proceeding would meanwhile be happening in the City, which would secure the release of those barely (or not) involved in Fontaine's crimes ( this may have largely happened by the time of BaS1 OR hardly started, as the few 'courts' would be overwhelmed ) .
--- --- ---
Explanation For All the Odd Splicers Wandering Fontaine's Department Store :
Apparently the 'Thug' archetypes didn't offer enough variety in the game so that called for all of these others to be added to the game 'Prison' situation. ( As well as all those unfortunate corpses of customers and employees who unexplainedly got 'trapped' there ?? )
 
SO Dangerous Crazies also just got chucked in there to get them off the streets ?? (The ones at the 'shootout probably all died. ) You cannot really call the place any proper 'Prison', so it really could only ( in a real world ) be for temporary detention. Supposedly there's not enough space yet in Persephone for these ( It takes time to expand/prpare it ? ) If Persephone had Vacancies, the Fontaine Goons (co-criminals) wouldn't be kept in such a half-assed setup, and would be THERE instead.
Rather ludicrous (illogic) : Fontaine/Atlas (a non-splicer) there in close confines with Insane Thugs as having much likelyhood of survival. (( DLC Writers are known for their 'quick and dirty' writing of 'story' ( "Storyboard Glue" as its known in the Biz ...) ))
--- --- ---
Silver Fin Restaurant "Closed by Order of Dr Suchong" ????? :
Why exactly can Suchong be giving such orders ? NO such authority should have existed ( remember this point in the DLC is BEFORE the 'civil war', and Suchong was only known as 'that genius doctor' ) - it should have obviously been "Closed by Order of Rapture City Council" like everything else. ( And maybe using a better plausible excuse like "Closed by the City Health Authority", to justify Suchong being allowed around it ). The BaSx writers seemed to have gotten Dr-Suchong_On_The_Brain.
Even moreso ( as in it being problematic ) -- that 'order' telegraphs to the curious that something interesting is going on inside. And this was now IN Fontaines, where criminal Splicers later roamed freely about ( and they would have torn every door open looking for food or whatever ). That 'closing' logically would have been from before the 'prison' (you'd also think Suchong WOULD have moved his 'Tear' research work and equipment elsewhere, when this whole 'prison' thing was being setup. Remember : Suchong saying in an Audio Diary that Ryan is a Cheap Ass ?? So his expensive 'equipment' isn't likely to be abandoned so easily by Suchong, no ?).
Look at timeline ...
Corrected BaSx Timeline
This Restaurant's "Closing" should be even when Fontaine was still alive to give Suchong/Fink sufficient time to interface (the 'Tear' phenomenon) for even a fraction of what was said to have happened, no??? (An illogical/unrealistic timeline compression/shoehorning is done in this DLC - Bad and sloppily stitched together like so much else of it). We (the MMORPG project) don't allow any incredibly ridiculous Infinite BS type compressed timeline - Dr. Suchong NEEDS TIME TO WORK.
--- --- ---
The Tram at Fontaines :
Fontaine's Department Store, that Tram between the goofy artist designed 'department' buildings - Pictures showing interior indicates about how large it was. Doorway size, etc..
We have that good ole (real) physical property of buoyancy again - weight to offset volume in water to not sink or float up to surface - that size's displacement would be about 40 tons ( the interior of a 16 foot spheroid - a bit bigger than the old Bathyspheres ). Not a problem in the ocean, but when it comes OUT of the water - the Rail it hangs from has to support that weight ( but then out in the ocean that Rail isn't supported anywhere evident - so it is BS magic time again anyway ). At least with the short distances those units could be battery powered. ( Not everything in the Fantasyland DLC need be thrown out, just straightened out/fixed - made to possibly work in the real Universe Rapture is supposed to inhabit ).
That Lopsided Rail hanging mechanism also isn't particularly logical engineering-wise - The units underneath physically wouldn't hang as shown. ( But then, if its all just Booker's Fever Dream, then nothing has to be Real, No ?? )
Fun Audio Diary would have been a mind-addled Splicer there screaming into the recording that there are 'Horses' after him, everywhere !, At Every Turn, THEY ARE THERE !!!, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! ( *Kaboom*, shoots self in head ) .... Silence for remainder of 2 minute recording... ( found next to a corpse at Tram Station, missing head and half-eaten by inmates ).
--- --- ---
Fontaine's Freaky Floating Folly :
That central building is supposedly free-floating in water ( structure weighs less than the water it displaces - Totally possible with all the huge air spaces inside ), but needed to be anchored/tied down -- to not just hold it in place, but to keep it from swaying in currents ( one of the online Infinite BS detractors mentioned a floating city being problematic/uninhabitable because of constant Motion Sickness of the population ... ).
The high depth pressure doesn't change that because liquid water doesn't compress. The 2 other buildings seem planted (serving as anchors), and there would need to be additional guywires in many other directions to stop/dampen swaying/tilting. Neutral buoyancy is hard to keep balanced ( in free-floating submarines/bathyspheres is where its critical ), but that is unneeded here because of the anchoring (at least as illustrated that pix). It just needs to maintain sufficient positive buoyancy. Once you get rid of that anchoring (as in 'sunk' or with the BaS ending's QM particle floating it up, it becomes unstable - probably everything shaken from the neat shelves/walls in all the lurching and swaying ... ( I won't go into all the problems with the quantum stuff involved in the BaSx story -- that's just a convenient plot gimmick alluding back to Elizabeth's Columbia universe ... it is DLC anyway - them usually a hack job ).
So this floating building thing really makes no practical sense ( the opposite actually - It causes Major extra expenses to not have it become "barf central", or just plain "a disaster waiting to happen" ). So it was another 'neat idea' that sounded good to the writers and contrived for including the "quantum particle" bit in the plot. That's normally NOT the basis for a building design in any real sane world.
BTW, If Fontaines had been 'sunk' (literally vs figuratively) then all the utilities would need to be ( expensively and time-consumingly ) rebuilt to matchup/reconnect at that new spot, or the place would very soon be a "Cold Dark Wet Tomb". So, in my logical universe the situation was just being isolated AND temporary ( OR better : it would be some well prepared old warehouse in the cheap part of town ). It costs money to fix up a 'Prison', and they MADE THE POINT OVER AND OVER that Ryan didn't care to spend money he did not have to.
Also, it really being sunk alot deeper, the depth would exceed any building overengineering of its pressure containment strength factors ( add 14 lb/sq in per atmosphere - every ~30 feet deeper ) AND IT WOULD IMPLODE. I know, "its a game", but connection to reality ( like all those Physical Laws ) is supposed to make the Sci-Fi weird stuff that much more shocking/relatable.
-
Its a good thing that Fontaine got killed when he did because the next Atlantic Storm season would have well demonstrated why that 'floating' design really wasn't such a good idea ( heaving in the increased currents and turbulence, and probably quickly wrecking the place ).
-
Perhaps the thing was really planned as the method for Fontaine's departure from Rapture ( to be an undersea 'base' to be moved (floated away ) closer to the US to launch Fontaine's "return" to the Surface). You'd think he would need Little Sisters and the ADAM labs for that, though. AND Could he trust anyone else to run Rapture if he was gone? OR trust whoever he sent 'to the Surface' to deal for him ??? Perhaps he was much MORE trapped than he had thought. (( " 'Big Cons' get 'Too Much to Handle', and soon are 'Out Of Control' very Quickly " - James Rockford ))
--- --- ---
Fontaine's Electronics ( seen in BaSx ) ... Add to list of businesses ( or is it just a department? Selling other peoples products ? ) 
Usually department stores didn't have a 'Sears Electronics' or 'Sears Housewares' or 'Sears Toys' 'Sears Mensware' .... it just named the type of goods for the department on the in-store signs (maybe the developers are too young to ever be in a real Department Store ???)
Is it yet another 'business' that Fontaine 'bought' ( strong armed someone else out of ... ). Of course he had to compete with McClendon Electronics ( subsidiary of McClendon Robotics )
This seems to be yet more wasted money/effort ( you cannot get away from Expenses in business ) when Fontaine's ultimate goal was to leave Rapture, bringing ADAM to "The Big Time" on The Surface. Why bother all these penny-ante operations which would simply 'send up red flags' for Ryan to eventually catch Fontaine in crimes ??? Every dollar wasted on these is taken from building his Splicer army to take over Rapture.
-
Many of Fontaine's businesses were likely 'in name only' as there might be too short a time for him to do anything significantly different ( or ever run the company effectively after he stole/strong-armed them away from their original owners ). Employees can quit and he cannot strongarm everyone in all these diverse businesses like he did in Fontaine Fisheries.
Many would simply be a waste of his money as they were small ( Rapture was only so big ) and not likely to pay very much as competition with other small competitors existed. Maybe he just liked his name to be splashed everywhere.
Bigger companies would have investors who would seek justice if they were 'forced' out ( and that many MORE people would be out to 'Get' Fontaine if he did it criminally ). Remember - Ryan ran the Security and could suppress official corruption that in the surface world otherwise allowed gangsters at times to get away with so much.
-
Example - Fontaine's Machinery Co : Seen on Vices in BS1) : First : He's a latecomer ( since he would have money only after ADAM was a success ), Second : How many NEW vices would anybody buy ( ditto for any 'machinery' of that type ) ? Third : hardly a profitable business and rather a boat anchor with his future goals, Fourth : Not splashy enough for his ego. A business Fontaine didn't create (or even understand), just bought ? Many people simply don't sell their craft, their livelihoods ( Compelled ? then that's another person 'gunning for' Fontaine ). Its all pretty much a case of the writers/artists having Fontaine be far too overblown, and they couldn't bother to think of any other name ( opening a phone book randomly works ).
--- --- ---
Stupid/Lazy 'New' Plot Things/Ideas/Details - DLC-itus :
Darwin has a Way of Taking Care of people who use things which simply 'Look Good' ( when appearance is their majority concern -- to the detriment of everything else - safety, effectiveness, etc ... ). Lawyers do make a good living off people, who really don't know what they are doing, who make faulty things and sell them to other people.
Fontaine's Fancy Bathyspheres in BaSx : I wonder what liabilities there are in Rapture after numerous people drowned in such flawed vehicles, or asphyxiated when their oxygen was gone from some fire ( that overheating story crap to justify getting the 'Jack Frost Ice potion --- so feeble it reeks of desperate hack writing ). Those vehicles would be labeled a LEMON once known to Rapture's Press ( deaths are rather obvious big stories and hard to hide in such a small community ). A coverup would make it even bigger news. Fontaine might try to block such a story, but Ryan had his own 'friendly' press that could be protected. SO it would have been a major scandal ontop of knowledge of Fontaines other crimes.
Sorry - it couldn't be a case of Ryan running Fontaine's old businesses and patching over the shortcomings ( writers still trying to villify Ryan's Philosophy and personal ethics ). Remember RYAN didn't want people getting out of Rapture, and more private submarines would add to that threat to the City's secrecy.
"Let The Buyer Beware" also ( if there is no proper legal system ) allows the harmed customers to burn down the factory and kill the maker who got their family/friends killed ( or a Solomon solution : Subject them to their own faulty products ... )
--- --- ---
Audio Diary : Johnny Demarco ( Manta Ray Lounge in Housewares )
"Louie! Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie... Hey, if you don't get down here soon, there's not gonna be an ounce of booze or a piece of ass for the taking ! Sometimes I think you've taken this whole Robin Hood business a bit too much to heart. Fontaine's got us out there ladling soup for the purpose of building an army -- not to share the milk of human kindness. You keep up this kind of behavior, I'm gonna start thinking there's more 'red' in you than Karl Marx. *Pounding outside on door* What ? The hell ? Splicers... They're busting in ! Hurwitz ! *Gunshots* Tell Fontaine the perimeter's compromised and -- *Cuts off*"
Fontaine as Atlas probably had needed some 'Muscle' from his old crew to setup his New Persona ( the people he was dealing with - Thugs in the Department Store Prison might as soon shoot him as 'follow him' - unless he had assistance convincing them ). It could be possible that the non-spliced individuals on this audio diary are lackeys in Fontaine's close circle ( since Fontaine brought many members from his crew from the surface to serve him and they'd know Atlas's true identity ) and also thinking back, McDonagh did mention that it was like Fontaine was building an army.
He also might not be as convincing in his disguise to people who had seen/heard "Fontaine" previously. No doubt, any 'followers' who knew his identity would eventually be 'disposed of' as a liability to his 'Con'.
-
NOTE - THIS IS AFTER FONTAINE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD : The whole situation seems too contrived - With the rushed atmosphere of the BaSx DLC, it seems more likely that they meant to say "Atlas," but got confused and never made a correction.
--- --- ---
== Example Of What A REAL Department Store Has : ==
( Versus Burial At Sea with its huge emptiness - unexplained how it ever started/stayed in business - more an Infinitized puppet-show backdrop setting )
Broadway Department Store Los Angeles Circa 1925
Street Floor
Fine Jewelry 810 • Silver Flatware 59 • Silver Holloware 166 • Clocks 95 • Watches 810 • Better Fashion Jewelry 141 • Fashion Jewelry 20 • Fashion Accessories 41 • Et Cetera 86 • Handbags 37, 132 • Jr. Contemporary Handbags 117 • Personal Leather Goods 142 • Gloves 6 • Cosmetics 17 • Hosiery 3 • Plaza Sportswear 65, 133 • Plaza Skirts & Blouses 66 • Plaza Sweaters 149 • Street Floor Lingerie 54 • The Hat Box 825 • Misses’ Shoes 8 • Almost Shoes 138 • Women’s Casuals 101 • Presents Perfect • Notions 4 • Stationery 15 • Cameras 13 • Electronics 13 • Books 18 • Luggage 33 • Candy 34 • Liquor and Gourmet 845 • Men’s Fragrances 177 • Men’s Accessories 105 • Men’s Loungewear 48 • Men’s Sleepwear 164 • Fashion Neckwear 122 • Men’s Furnishings 7 • University Shop 53 • Men’s Sweaters 171 • Men’s Tops 184
Street Floor Mezzanine
Men’s Clothing 126 • Men’s Shoes and Hats 57 • Men’s Sport Clothing 48 • Men’s Spectator Sportswear 550 • Contemporary Many 124 • Men’s Sportswear 50 • Men’s Active Sportswear 109 • Men’s Better Sportswear 170
Second Floor
Aisle of Fashion Fabrics 1, 30, 67 • Art Needlework 29 • Sewing Machines • Luggage 33 • Lamps 71 • Pictures and Mirrors 31 • Domestics 2 • Towel and Bath Shop 23 • Linens 23 • Bedding 55 • Sporting Goods 43 • Sierra Shop 43 • Boys’ Shop 98 • Little Boys’ Wear 74 • Saturday’s Expression
Third Floor
Hair Styling Salon 601 • Girls’ Shop 44, 47 • Little Girl’s Wear 96 • Toddlers 74,90 • Infants’ Shop 42,137 • Toys 28 • Children’s Accessories 102 • Children’s Shoes 58 • Hi Deb Shop 52 • Body Fashions 19 • Daywear Lingerie 63 • Leisurewear 67 • Robes 51 • Fashion Sleepwear 24 • Misses’ Sportswear Dresses 12 • Plaza Dresses 73 • Plaza PM Dresses 131 • Career Dresses 27
Fourth Floor
Windsor Shop • Regency Room 22 • Design II Dresses 79 • Design II Sportswear 103 • Signature Collections 440 • VIP Collections 104 • Bridal Salon 93 • Furs 60 • Studio Room Millinery 800 • Contempora Sportswear 78 • Misses’ Sportswear 89 • Dresses 70s 49, 93 • Sportswear 70s 134, 148 • Woman 70s 62 • PM Clothes 93 • Spectator Sports Shop 40 • Coats 25 • Suits 25 • Modern Miss Shop • Junior World Junior Sportswear 97 • Junior Dresses 64, 102 • Young Juniors 52 • Better Juniors 136 • Junior Coats 64 • College Shop 85 • International Shop 64
Fifth Floor
Pianos • Glassware 36 • Waterford Shop 112 • China 11 • Housewares 39 • Electrical Housewares 95 • Small Housewares 39 • Gift Shop 70 • Cookshop 206 • Cookery Gourmet 143 • Hardware • Garden Shop • Radios • Televisions 72 • The Music Center 77 • Major Appliances 80
Sixth Floor
Furniture 92 • Recliners • Home Furnishings Studio • Slumber Shop 69 • Auditorium
Seventh Floor
Carpeting 32 •Rugs 45 • Curtains 10 • Draperies 10 • 
Bedspreads 10 • Custom Draperies and ReUpholstery 82 • 
Personnel Offices
Eighth Floor
Credit Office • Cash Office • Offices
Ninth Floor
Garden Tea Room
Basements not itemized ( but containing functional infrastructure )
--- --- --- --- ---
How big was Rapture such that a huge NEW Mall could exist as a business operation ?
Department Store ?? 
New items ? New Bathyspheres ? NO AUTO SCALE INDUSTRY IN RAPTURE
Small craft shops and manufacturers (what Rapture WOULD HAVE) sell their own products (can afford to sell on to a 'Department Store' which takes a big chunk of 'the profit').
--- --- ---
Fancy New model "Bathyspheres" -- Actually a 'submarine' supposedly produced by Fontaine's company/industrial-empire... Remember, sucha vehicle would be FAR more complicated (in reality) than any car/automobile, and small numbers produced would have them cost more than any Rolls Royce custom built auto.
--- --- --- --- ---
.
.