I’ve never shied away from putting monsters in my holes. Unfortunately, this says more about the quality of the men I’ve dated than it does about the sex toys I’ve used. All that is about to change…
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Wait, let’s maybe ease into things a little first.
See, I graduated from the school of sex toys as objet; stylish, beautiful, sanitary things that suggested you could just as easily display them in your home as get off with them. After a veritable sex toy revolution in the early 2000s, thanks at least in part to one seminal Sex and the City episode, the objects that until then had only had a place in the deepest recesses of our bedside drawers were suddenly a topic of conversation. They were out in the open. And you’d best believe that if they were out there, mass-produced dicks in Barbie doll-beige were simply not going to cut it.
For a while there, you could walk into any halfway decent sex toy store and it would look more like some sort of Swedish design showroom than any sort of place to satisfy your basest carnal instincts. Gone were the blacked-out windows and penis-shaped party novelties, the thickly-veined realistic cocks and the accusing stare and spread legs of a half-deflated blow-up doll. Instead, there were vibrators modeled after flowers or bunnies or lipsticks, chakra-cleansing quartz dildos, glistening wands of suggestively undulating glass, soft pastel tones, gentle curves, and sophisticated women’s names that sounded lifted from the society pages of a glossy magazine. Names that sounded confident, intellectual, elegant, well-travelled… (I mean, I guess you could say Odyssey Toys’ Spawn of Vecna is well travelled too… straight from the depths of the underworld. Inch after inch after – yes, we’re still going – inch, the Stranger Things-inspired twist of vines taunts as much as it teases: Would you? Can you? Will you? Do you want to? How deep can you really go?)
It was an important and necessary evolution: for demystifying pleasure (particularly women’s pleasure), for destigmatising masturbation, and for overhauling an industry where the human sexual organs had for too long been then only source of inspiration. For many, sex toys had finally become approachable, unintimidating and accessible. However, as I’ve discovered, there may come a time when you actually want a sex toy that feels ambitious, intimidating and, if we’re real about it, kinda scary…
My Dark, Twisted, Silicone Fantasy
A mass of tentacles swarms and seethes towards the gleaming pearl clutched firmly in their grip. Each appendage is studded with o-shaped suckers along its length, the exact eyebrow-raised ‘o’ my mouth instinctively arranges itself into as I wrap my hand around the thickness of its base. But it’s the pearl that my gaze keeps coming back to, the pleasure it so seductively promises a tantalising lure. “I’m not afraid, you’re afraid!” Just kidding, I am afraid but I’m also intrigued, excited and, most of all, aroused. If the Tenox has come for me, isn’t it only right that I come for it…?
Fantasy dildos are by no means a recent development in the sex toy world – after all, the intersection between fantasy and desire has existed for about as long as fantasy and desire have existed; some fantasies are just a little more imaginative. Beyond that, not everyone wants to play with or be penetrated by a realistic-looking penis (never mind the fact that in 2022, penis-centric definitions of sex feel wildly outdated). But while a decade ago, dragon phalluses and alien proboscises might have been aimed at fringe fandoms and subcultures, they’re steadily reaching their tentacles – each new appendage in this growing kingdom often as elaborate in lore as it is in detail – into mainstream consciousness.
As a freak, a nerd and an enthusiastic pervert, the profusion of weird and wonderful dildos, butt plugs, grinders and strokers into all of the spaces where, well, I used to see those things but less-weird could mean only one of two things: either I was becoming freakier, nerdier and more perverted or the sex toy world was. From OnlyFans profiles to Twitter feeds to Glamourarticles to paragons of pop culture Buzzfeed, the monsters were coming out from under the bed. When I saw that the people behind Godemiche, purveyors of fine silicone sex toys and what you could call more ‘traditional’ dildos, had a new, scarier collaborative brand called Odyssey, it pretty much answered my question. But I had more, so I reached out to the folks at Odyssey to answer them.
To begin with, can you tell us a little about who you are?
So, Odyssey is made up of the two of us (Adam and me, Matt), we’re both living in Leicester, UK. And funnily enough, we live on the same street!
Adam has been designing, making, and selling sex toys for about seven years now with his partner Monika over at Godemiche.
How did your expansion into fantasy toys come about?
It was strange, for sure – the dong gods were definitely hard at work to make it happen…
I had been mulling over the idea of trying out making my own designs for a while as I love being involved in the making side of what I design. I wanted to be more involved and proud about what I was doing rather than hidden behind someone else’s brand but I didn’t quite know how to get there.
I had seen Godemiche products often over the course of designing fantasy toys, but I never thought to look into who made them, until I saw on Instagram that they’re also Leicester based! That’s when the magic happened…
I reached out to Adam and expressed an interest in offering my design and 3D printing services for Godemiche and that’s where the Odyssey story began.
Adam had always wanted to get into the fantasy market (he’s a big on art, creativity, and a D&D nerd at heart) but with running Godemiche, didn’t have much time to start up another brand. He had a whole load of fantasy design ideas, but they just didn’t suit Godemiche’s brand – it had to be a different business. And with both of our crazy drives to be busy 16 hours a day, we were the perfect fit for each other!
There’s long been a niche for fantasy sex toys but it seems like they’ve becomea lot more mainstream in recent years. What’s that all about?
I think all the massively creative makers in this space have really pushed these toys into an art form of their own, and people love that they can buy a sex toy of pretty much anything you can imagine or fantasise about.
The sculpting and creativity required to come up with some of the mythical and magical shapes some of our fellow dong-makers’ creations are really up there with some of the greatest artists of our time, in my opinion. Abstract shapes that lend themselves to a theme or are inspired by a mythical creature can be turned into a useable sex toy with the amazing imagination from designers we see in this market.
Do you think a greater diversity of independently created porn and content creators has anything to do with it?
This definitely does have a big impact. There are some great content creators out there that focus on the fantasy market and their reach is huge, so more and more people are being exposed to the range of toys available to them.
What about the zeitgeist of, well, right now? Reality isn’t quite as fun as it used to be – are people craving that escapism more?
I think so. People need to have a release from the daily grind and get away from the craziness of the world right now. Sex is a great way of letting go and being able to explore fantasies and enjoying new unique sex toys is a great way for people to find their own escapism.
Also, and maybe this is just me, but there’s something quite arousing about playing witha certain type of fear, right?
The more you immerse yourself into the fantasy, the more heightened your senses can be. These types of toys are ideal for role playing, pushing your own limits of pleasure and exploring your body and how it reacts to different shapes, sizes and textures. The fantasy market is great in that it caters for both the psychological side of a fantasy as well as the physiological side.
There’s also something gloriously agender about a tentacle or alien appendage. Do you think that’s part of the appeal?
Without a doubt! Realistic toys are obviously not for everyone – so having something like a tentacle, which being octopus-inspired (naturally a hermaphrodite) eliminates the idea that the toy has a specific gender. I think it’s so important to have a broad range of toys available to accommodate everyone’s chosen gender or sexual orientation, and the alien or tentacle toys can be fantasised about in anyway the customer wants.
How does the creative process differ conceptualizing and making a fantasy toy versus a more ‘conventional’ one?
With fantasy toys we can really let our imaginations run wild, we’re not constrained so much to the conventional smooth shapes and styles you are used to seeing that often feel overdone and somewhat generic.
We can take inspiration from anything around us and create something unique and wild, so our design meetings are pretty crazy. We usually have random objects to touch and feel along with sketches of shapes, artist character creations and more.
What comes first – the lore or the design?
With the Tenox it was the lore. We were discussing tentacle designs as we knew we wanted to do one but didn’t want to put out another IKA-inspired design that has just been overdone. We were discussing a backstory, as we wanted to create ranges of products with a theme running through them… The story of the Tenox is that it’s holding a ‘Pleasure Pearl’ to lure in unsuspecting victims. This then developed into the Tenox Grinder, which is supposed to represent the boneyard where it’s victims lie, and then the Tentacle Butt Plugs, which are a spin on the original Tenox design, but where it turns out the pearl was actually one of its eggs, now with a hatchling breaking out to tease the insides of its next victim!
What about the balance between functionality and fantasy – at the end of the day, it’s still a product intended for pleasure so how do you keep this front of mind while still creating imaginative toys?
This is critical for us. Adam’s knowledge, understanding and care on the functional side of things plays a big part in the design phase. My first version of the Tenox was bulky and the suckers were sticking out a lot more, so he reeled me in, and we came up with the slender body and smoother shape. We're really trying to build cool products that still tell a story and fulfill a fantasy, while creating a shape that's really pleasurable for the user and how it will work with the human anatomy.
Who are the people buying fantasy toys? Are there common threads you’re noticing among your buyers?
There’s a great community on Twitter revolving around indie fantasy toy shops (big shout-out to everyone!), so there’s plenty of familiar faces we love interacting with there. The link to Godemiche is also bringing in a lot of customers from all walks of life who haven’t necessarily bought a fantasy toy before, which is amazing.
Which fantasy creature do you reckon would have the best pickup lines?
This has to be the werewolves for me. I can only imagine the filth they would whisper in someone’s ear before they get devoured at the first hint of a full moon!
And which one would be the most considerate lover?
I’d say the tentacles – those soft suckers would be slowly wrapping around you pulling you in closer, holding you tightly, you know…
Who’s the bad boy of the fantasy world?
Tough one! Werewolves or dragons… I love anything dragon-related, and they’re just immense in stature and as fierce as they come, but the werewolf just has this bad boy vibe I resonate with!
Real talk: do you have any advice on how to choose the right dildo or toy for you? Anything people should always keep in mind when buying silicone sex toys?
Yeah, for sure! It’s all about personal preference though – what I might pick in a soft someone else might like in a medium firmness, so I’d say evaluate the texture and size of the toy compared to what you’ve found you get on with.
A softer silicone is sometimes harder to insert, but once inside the comfort compared to a medium, the feel is much nicer, especially on a more textured toy.
The biggest thing to remember is don't be afraid to ask. We're here to help and to give you the best advice we can (even if that advice is to shop with someone else). If you don't wish to talk to the toy creators, then join the community. They are also full of great people with lots of knowledge and advice. It's your fantasy but you're not alone!
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