A defaced machine in Shantytown.
The Mendelssohn Kinematic Couture is a Gear Vending Machine in the city of Columbia. The machine itself depicts a automaton dressed as a stereotypical Hebrew tailor, with stylized hair and cap. The only machines of this type encountered by Booker DeWitt during BioShock Infinite are unusable.
BioShock Infinite
- Main article: BioShock Infinite
The Gear Store or Tailor Machine were supposedly meant to be used in the same way as Rapture's Gene Bank, but the idea got scrapped later in development for unknown reasons. However, the store itself is still seen in-game, often in shambles with a single piece of Gear by its side. Files in the game reveal voice clips meant for the store usage, as well as menus allowing Gear options for switching. This implies that the player could buy Gear rather than finding it scattered around Columbia.
Booker comes across two machines during the game. The first is located in the Fraternal Order of the Raven headquarters in Comstock Center Rooftops. The machine is under repair and a Gear is set by its base. The second can be found in Shantytown, broken down, covered by anti-Semitic insults painted over the sign, with a Gear halfway submerged in grime by the machine.
Quotes
- "This is what you're wearing?"
- "I can have it for you on Tuesday… Okay, Monday, if its such an emergency."
- "For handful of gelt, you'll feel like a million bucks."
- "What's with the shmata? Come on, I'll put you into some nice velvet."
- "What do you want for these prices?"
- "Far be it from me to say… but did your tailor learn his trade at the school for the blind?"
- "For you, I'll give you half off."
Gallery
Behind the Scenes
- Early models and concept art for the Tailor Machine indicate that the vending machine was meant to have undergone a cosmetic change in-universe, with the name being rebranded to "Father Franklin Kinematic Couture", and the automaton design being altered. Interestingly, a Citizen in the Path of the Scroll remarks that the "Father Franklin machines will be taking new stock soon," suggesting the variant machines do exist in Columbia.