Inception: What's your Totem? [POTENTIAL SPOILERS]

[dalek sec]

I guess my totem would be this broken jade ring I have. It's in two pieces and I would keep it in my pocket, if I pull it out and it's fixed I know I'm still dreaming.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

If I told you what my totem was, wouldn't it defeat the entire purpose of having one in the first place?

Only if it was mass produced the exact same way, like an iPod or a quarter.

An Hourglass.

If it never runs out of sand, then I'm in a dream.

Dang, that's actually pretty clever...

BTW... was there any other characters that had totems? (I only know of three, as they were shown in the movie)

Apparently, everyone had one, just three characters showed theirs.

Mine would be a silver egg... and if it could stand up on its side, then I was in a dream.

 

[Sonicron]

I'd craft a button, such as this one.

Spoiler: Colors would be different, though.

I'd engrave "vivat crescat floreat" along the rim on the backside, and I'd manufacture certain elements of it in such a way that they're slightly raised, so it will have distinct unique physical features easily identifiable by my hand.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

An Hourglass.

If it never runs out of sand, then I'm in a dream.

That might take too long to be really useful.

Mine would be a deck of cards. One of them is tapered on the edge, but only I know which one. If I'm able to pick that one card out of the deck at any given time, I'm in reality.

 

[The Rockerfly]

A guitar pick, crafted out of purple plastic and having an indent for my fingers to hold the pick and engrave it with "I Rock, Therefore I Am"

 

[Matthew Stevens]

I have a counterfeit Kennedy Half Dollar, I like to flip it between my knuckles. It's got a one of a kind imperfection, if that imperfection is missing, I must be dreaming.

 

[Avatar Roku]

Hm...interesting. Mine would be my tree cookie. You see, this is a little name tag made out of wood given to me when I began working at this camp. It already has intense meaning for me, so I would just have to find a way to modify it so that only I know it's weight or some such.

If I told you what my totem was, wouldn't it defeat the entire purpose of having one in the first place?

That only happens if you let someone touch it. In the movie the girl show's someone the totem she made and they didn't say that to her.

Not quite. You just can't let someone know the unique aspect of it. That can be something you would only find out with physical contact, like the die, but it can also be something visual. The girl had carved some kind of symbol on her totem which she was very careful not to show, it you notice.

 

[fearofsleep]

i would use a lighter, but an empty one
so that if it's able to make fire, i know i'm in a dream

That would be too easy for an architect to reproduce. Viewed in a certain light, they would be able to tell it was empty without even touching it.

I already have one. It's a brass .308 shell casing. When I put it on an open table and press my thumb down on the tapered end, it will spin across the table and describe a certain pattern every time, as long as I use the same pressure and put my thumb in the same spot.

well i would make it metal then,or at least heavy enough so someone couldnt tell how full it was and very stylized, enough to be hard to reproduce

 

[Ham_authority95]

An Hourglass.

If it never runs out of sand, then I'm in a dream.

That might take too long to be really useful.

It would be a small one so it will run out quickly in reality.

 

[Clueless Hero]

Something simple, like a small bottle of ibuprofen (with my name or a symbol on the bottom, or something) with only one pill in it. If it ever has more pills or no pills, it's a dream.

 

[peduncle]

a mechanical pencil that in the real world had strips of gold instead of lead/graphite

 

[Souplex]

I just remembered something from psych class; You can't read in dreams. Dreaming is entirely a process of the right brain, while reading is entirely a process of the left brain. Just have something with writing on it. If you can't read it you're in a dream.

 

[lacktheknack]

A chess bishop. Oh wait, the movie's architect beat me to that, didn't she? Damn.

Uhmmm, my cross on a chain. In a dream world, it would stand up on its end and can't be knocked down (Bonus: In nightmares, it inverts).

 

[Woodsey]

If I told you what my totem was, wouldn't it defeat the entire purpose of having one in the first place?

No, you're just not allowed to let others touch it once you've started using it as the totem.

 

[Flac00]

Sounds a little complex. Just do things sort of like what they had in the movie, simple laws of physics. Like say a bouncy ball. If it keeps on bouncing then you are in the dream. Or just do something even simpler, like an object that you push over. Or heck, be unoriginal and do a top. Doing something as complex as what you got might be a little detrimental.

Though +10 style points for yours =)

 

[Eggsnham]

A dark red marble with a hole drilled in the center and filled in with some sort of heavy metal.

It wouldn't roll around if I were in a dream.

 

[Duskwaith]

Either a plastic glass that only breaks in a dream or more reliably a old keyring torch with no battery left so if it shone, it would mean im in a dream

 

[Flac00]

I found my totem... nothin fancy, just a lil' pouch which has a graphic of a scrapbooked bird that used to have a gift card in it haha... it has a distinctive design, stitch, tag, graphics and feel to it. So, it should work well

BTW... was there any other characters that had totems? (I only know of three, as they were shown in the movie)

I think you guys got what the totem in the movie was. The idea was that dreams don't follow the laws of physics so you can test whether physics are there or not.

 

[Shock and Awe]

My butterfly knife. Carry it always. =D