This subject is related to the Portal 2 era.

Repulsion Gel

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This subject is related to the Portal 2 era.

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Repulsion gel.svg
Repulsion.jpg
Repulsion Gel
General information
Faction

Aperture Science

Type

Liquid fiberglass insulator

Usage
Used by
Game information
Entity

paint_bomb_jump

Designer(s)

Pongthep Charnchaichujit (original design)[1]

"Last poor son of a gun got blue paint. Hahaha. All joking aside, that did happen - broke every bone in his legs. Tragic. But informative. Or so I'm told."
Cave Johnson[src]

Repulsion Gel, also known as Bounce Gel, is a testing element used in the Enrichment Center several decades before Portal and introduced in Portal 2. It is one of four types of Mobility Gels.

Overview[edit]

Repulsion Gel dripping from a vent in Sphere 02's Test Chamber 01 in Test Shaft 09
  • Used as far back as 1953 by Aperture Science, Repulsion Gel is the company's first[a] attempt at a dietetic pudding substitute. The gel, a bright blue color, is said to be a sweeter, slightly less non-toxic form of fiberglass insulation. Its purpose was to cause subsequently ingested food items to bounce off the lining of the dieter's distended stomach and out of their mouth. However, for various reasons, the product was also pulled from the shelves like the Propulsion Gel, and reconverted into a testing element for use with the Aperture Science Portable Quantum Tunneling Device, the forerunner of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. The material was eventually deemed hazardous even by Aperture Science's standards, and sealed away in Test Shaft 9 along with the Propulsion Gel and Conversion Gel, before the shaft was opened by Chell in order to escape from it. During the escape, she activated the pump stations containing the gel, and finally opened the main hatch between Test Shaft 9 and the main facility, allowing the Gels to once more become available in the facility.[2]
  • When coating a surface, Repulsion Gel will cause Test Subjects to bounce off the surface. Standing on the gel and jumping will cause them to be bounced approximately 2.5 times their normal jump height.[3] Falling onto the gel form a height will cause them to bounce slighty higher than the drop height. When placed on the walls, the gel will bounce them horizontally.
  • When bouncing off Repulsion Gel, the angle at which a Test Subject hits the gel is the angle at which he or she is bounced off - for instance, hitting the gel at a 45 degree angle will bounce the Test Subject at a 45 degree angle. While bouncing, Test Subjects have a small degree of air control, which they can use to influence where they land by moving themselves in the desired direction.[3]
  • During a pre-recorded message in a test chamber, Cave Johnson instructed the Test subjects that they should, under no circumstances, get covered in repulsion gel. Aperture Scientists were not able to identify what element repulsion gel was except that it "was a lively one that does not like the human skeleton". Despite this, getting covered in repulsion gel in the game will not harm a human or robot player character.
  • As a testing element, Repulsion Gel, coming as single blobs or continuous streams through a vent, transfers its properties to any object it touches, giving them a trampoline-like surface. After coating parallel walls on either side of a large pit, a Test Subject ricochets back and forth across the gap. Plastering Repulsion Gel all over a Weighted Storage Cube causes it to barrel across the room, shattering glass and taking out Sentry Turrets in its path.[4] Portals can also be shot under Repulsion Gel vents, allowing the gel to be sent in any area of a Test Chamber.[2]
  • "Repulsion Gel" is a registered trademark of Aperture Science.[2]

Related Achievements[edit]

Portal 2
BLUE GEL.jpg Vertically Unchallenged (15G)
Master the Repulsion Gel.
CATCH CRAZY BOX.jpg Schrodinger's Catch (20G)
Catch a blue-painted box before it touches the ground.

Behind the scenes[edit]

A portal is sent into Repulsion Gel by the ASHPD.
  • The Repulsion and Propulsion Gels were first introduced as unnamed paint types in the April, 2010 issue of Game Informer.[4] Gameplay footage and their proper name was revealed during E3 2010.[2]
  • So far the expanded gameplay produced by Repulsion Gel and Propulsion Gel alone appears to be extremely satisfying, and Valve indicated a willingness to include more if it sees fit.[4]
  • Repulsion Gel mirrors directly the green paint featured in the student video game Tag: The Power of Paint, as the whole team was hired by Valve to develop it for Portal 2.[5] The original Tag paint was developed by Pongthep Charnchaichujit.[1]
  • There was a Repulsion Gel chamber prior to release that many people think did not make it into the retail game, when it actually did. It is one of the last chambers of the Repulsion Gel-only levels. Many people do not recognize it because it has been changed in look to match the old facility, and an Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill was added in front of the ramp.[2]
  • While Repulsion Gel was made around 20 years before Propulsion Gel, it hit shelves after Propulsion Gel. Also, there is a face placard about Repulsion Gel saying that is was Aperture's first attempt to create a dietetic pudding substitute, while demonstrational videos say that it was second attempt.[2]

Trivia[edit]

  • It's revealed in Portal 2 that the three gels were simply not connected to the more modern Aperture facility, explaining why they weren't encountered in the original Portal.
  • While the animated diagrams of the Propulsion and Repulsion Gels show them to be contained in buckets, this aspect was not seen in-game.
  • The Repulsion and Propulsion Gels use the same colors as that of the ASHPD's portals (blue and orange, respectively).

Gallery[edit]

Portal 2[edit]

Pre-release[edit]

Retail[edit]

Aperture Desk Job[edit]

List of appearances[edit]

Main games[edit]

Other[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. The E3 2010 Repulsion Gel demonstration video states that the gel was the company's "second" attempt at a dietetic pudding substitute, presumably after Propulsion Gel. However, in the final released game, a placard retcons this and states it was the company's "first" attempt.

References[edit]

Repulsion Gel
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External links[edit]