Frank Fontaine’s Plasmid Spectacular Theatre

"Come on in and show us those snappy snappies." - Peach Wilkins This article could use some more pictures. Would you kindly help BioShock Wiki by adding some? Pictures needed: Plasmid Showroom sign render; "Help me 5254" graffiti render; "Welcome back Delta" burned text render

"There is something more powerful than each of us, a combination of our efforts, a Great Chain of industry that unites us. But it is only when we struggle in our own interest that the chain pulls society in the right direction..." - Andrew Ryan This article falls within the scope of the BioShock Wiki:Businesses Project. This project is dedicated to improving the articles about Rapture and Columbia's many businesses. Would you kindly help the BioShock Wiki by volunteering on the project page?

The theater.

“Ladies and Gentlemen... Fontaine Futuristics invites you to shed your skepticism, evolve your expectations and dissolve your doubt... as we unveil the revolutionary power of our Home Defense Plasmid Series!”

― Alex the Great

Frank Fontaine’s Plasmid Spectacular Theatre otherwise known as the Plasmid Showroom is an exhibition hall and stage located in the headquarters of Fontaine Futuristics in BioShock 2. Here the impressive power of Plasmids were put on display to drum up excitement among investors and the public of Rapture.

History

Frank Fontaine's monopoly on the Plasmid industry was the cornerstone of his rise to power. To guarantee that the business would thrive, he needed to ensure that the production and popularity of Plasmids would continue unabated. He accomplished both these feats at Fontaine Futuristics. Not only did he employ a legion of scientists experimenting with ADAM to create revolutionary advancements in his labs, he had his own venue to showcase their latest breakthroughs to the public.

Entryway to the Plasmid Showroom.

The Plasmid Spectacular Theatre was the scene of the awesome power of genetic manipulation as the god-like power of Plasmids were put on full display before enraptured onlookers. Visitors and investors could kick back in their plush seats with a drink or cigar and watch live demonstrations play out in front of them onstage. Others were encouraged to step up and experience the powers themselves using the carnivalesque Demonstration Machines that recreated the effects of certain Plasmids without the need for a jab from a needle. Representations of Electro Bolt, Incinerate!, and Telekinesis were just a few of the wonders exhibited during the tour.

But behind the entertainment and spectacle of the show was a dark secret. While the theatre served to showcase the genetic wonder-drugs and entice users, it was also a venue to iron the kinks out of the latest lines of Plasmids. This was tantamount to live experimentation and the "volunteers" at the center of each show were the enslaved Alpha Series Big Daddies like Subject Delta. The setting became the site of even more bloodshed as the Rapture Civil War raged and citizens turned against each other. Customers armed with the latest in the Home Defense Line of Plasmids tore each other and the Plasmid Showroom apart.

BioShock 2

Entryway to the Plasmid Showroom.

Main article: BioShock 2

Subject Delta finds his progress to rescue Eleanor Lamb halted by Alex the Great (the delusional and paranoid persona of Dr. Gilbert Alexander) and his absolute control over the security systems of the Fontaine Futuristics building. In an effort to break that control, Delta begins to literally break the Signal Relays hooked up to Bot Shutdown Panels around the office complex.

A lone sentinel and a crack in the wall.

Towards the western end of the first floor atrium, Delta finds the entry hallway to the Plasmid Showrooms. The facility is blocked off behind heavy drapery, but after Delta destroys the first relay Alex the Great will raise the curtain to entice him in to the facility. At the back of the hallway is a malfunctioning machine gun turret perched atop a stack of crates. Beside this is a crack in the wall revealing a side room containing a just-out-of-reach Gene Tonic, some other valuable loot, and a bloodstained code scrawled on the wall. If Delta should hack the security device, Alex will send a trio of Splicers to punish him for the violation of "company property."

Main Entrance

Stepping into the main entrance of the showroom, Delta finds himself in an antechamber where visitors would wait to be seated before the next stage performance. There's an EVE Hypo and some Trap Rivets by one of the couches in the waiting area, but the way into the theatre proper is blocked by a pair of large and intricate wrought iron gates. Instead, Delta heads through a pair of doors marked "Employees Only."

Backstage

The Incinerate! Demonstration Machine and the locked door.

The flooded backstage area.

These behind the scenes areas are where stagehands, maintenance technicians, security personnel, and even scientists would set up, store, and maintain the needed effects (or "volunteers") to ensure each show ran smoothly. Delta enters a disheveled hallway that wraps around the side of the stage and has multiple props as well as a pair of Leadhead Splicers milling about. One searching through a flooded lower area can be dispatched using the Electro Bolt Demonstration Prop. Other items of interest in this waterlogged spot include a Little Sister Vent, a Health Station, and an ADAM corpse sprawled out on a platform by a Gene Bank, as well as a set of standard Rivets, a pair of Frag Grenades, more Trap Rivets, and the contents of a storage crate. The other Leadhead further in the back can be sent flying with the Telekenesis Demonstration Prop set up in the corner by some Solid Slugs and a dead cat. Closer to the entrance, there's a First Aid Kit hidden in a mop bucket and an Incinerate! Demonstration Prop by an oil slick.

The Careful Hacker 2 Gene Tonic viewed in the Plasmid Showroom.

Adjacent to this hallway is the side room glimpsed earlier from outside the theatre. Delta enters the code into the keypad to gain access to the storage room. The place is a wreck with fallen masonry and other debris covering the floors and a busted pipe leaking water all over the room, but the most disturbing aspect is the bloodied corpse of a woman tied to a chair. There's a storage crate by an audio diary and another one by the Careful Hacker 2 tonic.

A Splicer gets more than he bargained for.

Returning to the hallway, Delta makes his was to the backstage area proper. There's a Vita-Chamber back here as well as a doorway to another behind-the-scenes area that's been blocked off by fallen debris, but before Delta can focus on either, he observes a Splicer attempting to get an illegal discount from the El Ammo Bandito in the corner. As the man pounds on the vending machine with the butt of his shotgun, various items fall out; unfortunately for him, this includes several proximity grenades and he's rewarded for his looting with a deadly explosion. Delta can gather the fallen items but there's not much else.

Plasmid Showroom

The main stage lined with demonstration props.

Alex the Great's voice can be heard echoing through the theatre just before he locks the doors and raises the partition dividing the backstage area from the main stage. Separated by a glass wall in the audience seating area, Alex taunts Subject Delta with memories of the days when he was paraded about the showroom and had Plasmids tested out on him. He then invites Delta to take the spotlight once again.

Alex attempts to "liven up" the crowd.

Houdini Splicers get in on the act.

As soon as Delta steps up to the microphone, Alex the Great launches into an animated salesman's pitch as his modified Security Bot flits around the seating area. He begins shooting electricity to "liven up" the audience of corpses and encourages a volunteer to step and join Delta for the demonstration. He settles on a Lady Smith Splicer in the back who teleports onto the stage. Delta takes care of the assailant and Alex calls forth a second wave. Soon the showroom is swarmed with other Houdini Splicers and an elaborate firefight takes place. Delta hides behind crates of seized contraband, activates the Demonstration Machines, and otherwise empties his arsenal out on the ambushers who take pot shots from the raised platforms and elevated perches that surround the stage all while Alex emcees the event with giddy delight.

An Alpha Series onstage.

After defeating the waves of Splicers, a final challenger approaches in the form of a "fellow demonstrator" of Delta's. Another Alpha Series appears and bangs ferociously at the theatre entrance. Alex zaps the gates open and with a mighty lunge the behemoth charges through the glass wall and lands onstage to take Delta on. After defeating the mad brute, Delta can gather what little valuables are in the stands, smash the Signal Relay on the wall, and leave the Plasmid Spectacular Theatre for good.

At the conclusion of BioShock 2, the Theatre sank with all of Fontaine Futuristics into the depths of the sea.

New Discoveries

Single Use Events

• Signal Relay - In audience seating area.

New Gene Tonic

• Careful Hacker 2 - Behind the coded door in Plasmid Demonstration area.

Coded Locks

• Plasmid Showroom - 5254

Audio Diary

1. Gilbert Alexander - Prototype - Through a hole in the wall and see a corpse tied to a chair with a code written in blood.

Gallery

Concept Art

Concept art for the Demonstration Machines, by Chris Chaproniere.

Concept art for the Stage, by Joshua Viers.

Different concept art for the Stage.

In-game Images

"HELP ME."

Splicers backstage.

An ADAM Corpse just waiting to be harvested.

The other side of the glass.

Alex's warm welcome.

Talk about a dead audience.

The gatecrasher gets let in.

The Alpha takes a stage dive.

Busting through.

Behind the Scenes

• The music echoing throughout the theatre is the song "Chasing Shadows" by Django Reinhardt.
• In the words of game developer Dean Tate, "The intent of this sequence was to further cement Fontaine Futuristic's place in Rapture's history, build Gil as a character, and give the player a memorable and exciting encounter against Assassin Splicers and the Alpha Series enemy types."
• If the player looks upon the "HELP ME 5254" writing in the backstage area with the art subtitles turned on, it will display the text "Help me please 5254". The word "please" is not actually present in the writing in-game.