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Excursion Funnel
General information
Affiliation	Aperture Science
Type	Tractor beam made of liquid asbestos
Usage
Used by	Chell ATLAS and P-body

 

The Aperture Science Excursion Funnel is a testing element used in the Enrichment Center several decades after Portal, and appears in Portal 2.

OverviewEdit

• 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, that edmit strange blue/orange sparkles that fade as the funnel goes on. 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]

• In at least one level of the Portal 2 single-player campaign, if the player is about to die whilst having portals redirecting an Excursion Funnel, the game corrects for placing the incorrect portal to save themselves.^[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 liquified asbestos.

Behind the scenesEdit

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]

Bugs/GlitchesEdit

• By walking into an Excursion Funnel aimed toward the ceiling, waiting until fully stopped at the top, crouching and waiting again, then pressing jump while holding crouch, the player can float across the ceiling and possibly beyond if nudged correctly.^[4]

TriviaEdit

• So far it is unknown why, while the Excursion Funnel was already in use in 1998, it is not seen in the first Portal, set over 20 years later.^[5]

GalleryEdit

An updated diagram.

A more updated diagram, showing a horizontal funnel.

Ditto, showing a vertical funnel.

Excursion Funnel in-game.

Excursion Funnel.

List of appearancesEdit

• Portal 2 (First appearance)
• The Final Hours of Portal 2

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

• Demonstration video on YouTube