Aperture Science Excursion Funnel

"Asbestos is harmless!"

- Excursion Funnel diagram

The Excursion Funnel is a testing element used in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center several centuries after Portal, and slated to appear in Portal 2.

Overview

 * 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 chumming funnel of liquid asbestos. According to the Aperture Science scientists, results as far as 1998 were highly informative; they cannot.


 * Acting as a Tractor beam, the Excursion Funnel consists of a cylinder of oscillating blue rings that can be combined with portals to transport Test Subjects or objects to otherwise unreachable areas.


 * "Asbestos is harmless!" appears to be the Excursion Funnel's slogan, and a registered trademark of Aperture Science.

Behind the scenes
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 device emitting the funnel. For an updated (and moving) diagram revealed during E3 2010, the Button was replaced by the definitive device.

Trivia
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. However, it is likely that Chell simply did not venture into Test Chambers containing the Excursion Funnel during this time.

List of appearances

 * Portal 2