Excursion Funnel
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| Excursion Funnel | |
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| General information | |
| Faction | |
| Type |
Tractor beam made of liquid asbestos |
| Usage | |
| Used by | |
- “Asbestos is harmless!”
- — Excursion Funnel diagram[1]
The Excursion Funnel is a testing element used in the Enrichment Center several decades after Portal, and appears in Portal 2.
Contents
Overview[edit]
- Created from at least 1998, Excursion Funnels are used by Aperture Science as part of an investigation into how well Test Subjects can solve problems while traveling violently through a churning funnel of liquid asbestos. According to the Aperture Science scientists, results as far as 1998 were highly informative; they cannot.[1]
- Acting as a tractor beam, the Excursion Funnel is powered by a round emitter placed on a wall, containing three gleaming, blue orbs. From each orb leaves a thread that swirls on itself in a spiral, the three threads making up the Funnel itself, a seemingly infinite transparent blue cylinder.[2] Combined with portals, it can transport Test Subjects or objects to otherwise unreachable areas.[1]
- The Excursion Funnel can be reversed in certain test chambers by activating a 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button. This causes the funnel to turn orange and attract objects instead of repelling them.
- "Asbestos is harmless!" appears to be the Excursion Funnel's slogan, and a registered trademark of Aperture Science.[1]
- If the player is about to die through misplacing a portal that is redirecting an Excursion Funnel, the game automatically rearranges their portals to save them from death.[3]
- The mechanics of the "liquid asbestos" aspect of excursion funnels is currently unknown. It is likely that the device generates a type of tractor beam, which propels a liquid mixture of several elements, one of these being liquefied asbestos.
- As part of the Aperture Lunar Resources Initiative performed on the Moon, the Excursion Funnel plays a vital part in the process of converting Moon rocks into Conversion Gel.
Related Achievements[edit]
| Portal 2 | |
|---|---|
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Tunnel of Funnel (15G) |
| Master the Excursion Funnel. | |
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Obstacle Building (15G) |
| Complete all test chambers in the Excursion Funnels co-op course. | |
Behind the scenes[edit]
The Excursion Funnel was first revealed through a diagram in the April, 2010 issue of Game Informer. In the diagram, a 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button serves as a placeholder for the Funnel's emitter.[1] For an updated (and moving) diagram revealed during E3 2010, the Button was replaced by the definitive device.[2]
Trivia[edit]
So far it is unknown why while the Excursion Funnel was already in use in 1998 as it is not seen in the first Portal, set over 20 years later.[4] However, it is likely that Chell simply did not venture into Test Chambers containing the Excursion Funnel during this time.
Gallery[edit]
An updated diagram.
A more updated diagram, showing a horizontal funnel.
Ditto, showing a vertical funnel.
ATLAS and P-body floating through the Excursion Funnel.
Excursion Funnel's emitter.
Excursion Funnel, seen in Test Chamber 01.
Ditto, seen in Test Chamber 03.
Turrets and Funnel in one of the Wheatley traps.
Excursion Funnel icon in Perpetual Testing Initiative.
Moon rocks in the Excursion Funnel on the Moon.
List of appearances[edit]
Main games[edit]
- Portal 2 (First appearance)
- Peer Review
- Perpetual Testing Initiative
Other[edit]
- The Final Hours of Portal 2
- Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game (Non-canonical appearance)
- Lego Dimensions (Non-canonical appearance)
- Moondust (Non-canonical appearance)
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 GameInformer's Portal 2 Hub on Game Informer (April 2010) (archived)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Excursion Funnel demonstration on Combine OverWiki's YouTube channel
- ↑ Dave Saunders states in the Developer commentary Excursion Funnel "As a solution, we now detect when the player places the wrong portal in hopes of saving themselves; we help them out by moving their other portal under the excursion funnel source."
- ↑ Special Edition Podcast: Portal 2 on Game Informer (March 26, 2010) (archived)
