Turrets



Turrets serve as one of the main testing obstacles in the Portal series. Armed with almost unlimited ammunition and deadly accuracy, they will attempt to kill test subjects on sight.

Standard Sentry Turrets are voiced by Ellen McLain, while Defective Turrets are voiced by Nolan North.

Sentry Turret


Sentry Turrets are miniature tripod robots that appear in every game in the Portal series. They are seen as incapable of independent movement, but can open each side of their chassis (their 'arms') horizontally in order to reveal twin double-barreled machine guns. The central part of the chassis holds their red eye, which emits a targeting laser. Almost all of the space within the Turret is devoted to storing the ridiculously stacked ammo, explaining the nearly infinite supply of ammo when firing. According to the Portal 2 Turrets trailer, the turrets use spring mechanisms to accelerate the whole bullet, including the casing, which may explain how the player can survive getting shot by the Turret so many times.

When test subjects are out of sight from the Turret's presence, they will maintain a standby state and will remain motionless with their guns retracted. Moving into their angle of sight however, will cause Turrets to deploy their guns shortly after greeting the unlucky individual before opening fire. They will continue to fire until the target is dead or moves out of sight. If the latter occurs, Turrets will briefly search for the test subject (as indicated by the movement of the targeting laser), after which they will revert to a standby state.

Turrets can be avoided, disabled or destroyed in a number of ways. The most common method is knocking them over, causing them to flail and fire wildly before deactivating. This can be done by picking them up and dropping them, or using any object to tip them over. Additionally, the Discouragement Beams or Emancipation Grills can be used to completely destroy them. When thrown into an Emancipation Grill they will say "ow" repeatedly.

In Portal, Turrets will shoot the bulletproof glass and portals when the player is on the other side. In Portal 2, however, Turrets will only follow the player behind glass with their beam and not shoot through porals, opening fire almost immediately when the player moves out of the glass or through the portal. In addition, Turrets appear to be unable to see through Hard Light Bridges or Excursion Funnels.

Rocket Turret


The Rocket Turret is a unique enemy seen at the end of Portal. It appears as a raw personality core outfitted with a rocket launcher. Upon activation, it will slowly lock onto Chell and emit a sound before firing a rocket. Unlike Sentry turrets, it cannot be disabled or destroyed by the player; Attempting to redirect a rocket back at the turret with the use of portals will cause the projectile to fizzle upon impact.

Rockets can also be redirected by Chell to shatter the observation windows and other glass-made objects including a Pneumatic Diversity Vent throughout the offices and maintenance areas of the Enrichment Center.

Rocket Turrets used to play a major role in Portal 2, but were later cut.

Defective Turret


Defective Turrets, referred to as "Crap Turrets" by Wheatley, are incomplete, wrongly assembled and ammo-less versions of the Sentry Turrets introduced in Portal 2. Unlike normal Sentry Turrets, Defective Turrets have a more humorous and sarcastic dialogue, and speak in a masculine, less robotic voice with a Texas-like accent.

They are harmless to Chell, many times making comments such as "If anyone asks, I killed you". Their voice lines seem to imply they are blind, but they are still aware of Chell's presence.

In the game's co-op campaign, the Defective Turrets appear as obstacles for Atlas and P-body throughout the Mobility Gels testing course. These Turrets appear to be as fully functional as regular Sentry Turrets and possess the innocent and feminine voice tones as they should. The only difference from regular Turrets is that they have been defaced. This is most likely because Aperture Science had not yet developed the modern casing.

Frankenturret


Frankenturrets are bizarre Sentry Turret-Weighted Storage Cube hybrids in the single-player campaign of Portal 2.

Frankenturrets do not speak, and instead emit incomprehensible chirping sounds. They generally serve as replacement for Storage Cubes. They are harmless, and the only difference from normal cubes being that Frankenturrets will hop around aimlessly when not placed on a button. When picked up by Chell, they retract their legs inside the cube. If they fall over on their sides or upside down, they will wave their legs trying to get up.

Prima Donna Turret


The Prima Donna Turret (meaning First Woman in Italian, a title given to the lead singer, the diva, in an opera), referred by the game files as the Turret Wife, is a bigger and wider Turret


 * In chapter 6 (The Fall), broken Prima Donna Turrets can be found destroyed and burning on large piles along normal Sentry Turrets.

Animal King Turret


The Animal King Turret is a unique type of turret in the single-player campaign of Portal 2 that is only used in an Aperture Science slideshow to represent an "Animal King Takeover" in the chapter, The Courtesy Call. The Turret is considerably colossal in comparison to its Sentry Turret brethren, and appears to operate the 'arms' on its side in exactly the same way.

It can be distinguished from ordinary Turrets by its immense size, crown and leopard skin-detailed chassis. In the context of the slideshow, the Animal King Turret is used as an example of an entity or a form of organism capable of taking control of Earth which "[[Media:Announcer prehub46.wav|...refuses to, or is incapable of listening to reason]]".

The Animal King Turret appears only once in the entire game,

Hover Turret


The Hover Turret is an unused Turret found within the game files of Portal 2. It uses the model of the Curiosity Core. It emits a laser, similar to the other types of Turrets, that is coloured light-blue, similarly to the Rocket Turret's targeting laser, and is able to burn the player similar to the burn of the Thermal Discouragement Beam, however unlike the Thermal Discouragement Beam its laser does not provide a barrier for the player's movement, nor does it interact with game mechanics. The Hover Turret can be spawned within Portal 2 via the cheat command, although it lacks a model by default, resulting in it appearing as a bright blue ERROR.

Portal
Turrets are introduced as testing hazards to Chell during the entirety of Test Chamber 16. Following this, they continue to appear throughout the remaining test chambers and eventually, during Chell's escape.

Portal 2
Turrets reprise their role as testing hazards to Chell and to Atlas and P-body for the game's co-op campaign, and they appear fairly early in the game. Distinct versions of the Turrets are introduced, including the Defective Turrets and Animal King Turret.

Videos
The Turrets and Animal King Turret as they appear in Chamberlock informational videos.

Trivia

 * The shipping box for the Turrets states that one of the blue painted Turrets was bought on January 25, 2010 by a person with an unreadable name. The reference to Michael Jackson can be seen on the box.
 * The Rocket Core from Portal was originally intended to fire lasers instead of rockets, but playtesters thought that a rocket would be more dramatic than a laser slowly melting the glass.
 * The Rocket Core from Portal was originally intended to fire lasers instead of rockets, but playtesters thought that a rocket would be more dramatic than a laser slowly melting the glass.