ANE Monday wrapup

For those who don’t know, ANE is the AVN Novelty Expo, where a host of adult product manufacturers meet distributors and retailers to help get their products out. As a bit of happenstance, we happened to get passes in, when Mina agreed to help out Shaye at LELO with their booth. The experience has proven incredibly enlightening, and lots of fun:

• All manufacturers, all of them, were absolutely eager to hear every bit of input we might have had on their products. Not only that, even the negative feedback was taken graciously, and in one case (Vibratex), they responded by getting our address to send a replacement.
• The group of sex toy manufacturers and distributors is actually a surprisingly small, and tight-knit group. Competition amongst the smaller manufacturers (note, not the big crap machines) seems generally friendly, and everyone is out to make the best possible products.
• A number of toy manufacturers are branching out, making lotions, lubes, oil, cosmetics, and such.  (Sorry, have to be a little vague here.) These are generally from high-quality companies, and they are products that they are proud to put their name on. I even sampled some of the first body paints I have ever met that don’t taste like ass, and, in fact, are genuinely delicious.
  
• A few favorites:
  • LELO – Meeting the people behind the company has really impressed me. Not only from the engineering side, but from the customer service side. They are far more receptive to input that I ever expected, and I am absolutely elated about some of the new things coming from LELO (deliberately vague, again). It is really hard to overstate just how kickass this company is. Companies like this deserve everyone’s support.
    
  • Sugar Lips – Natalie at Sugar Lips makes a line of delicious, body-safe, sugar free cosmetics that are absolutely wonderful. We will be doing some reviews in the near future, but the products were uniformly delicious, fun, and incredibly pleasing. She left us with several samples that are at the top of my list of things to try. (I am especially excited about the tingling sugar dust, which I tried out there. It has a delicious cinnamon smell, and imparts a wonderful subtle tingle on the tongue.)
    
  • Emotional Bliss – It was absolutely fantastic to finally put some faces with the names there, and our review of their Womolia Heat is coming out soon. This company produces some unique, and powerful products for women that have a level of thoughtfulness that is truly rare. And, I think I may have managed to not annoy them so much as to keep them from avoiding me forever into the future.
    
  • Tenga – This Japanese company has produced the first male masturbators that I have any interest in trying (the eggs).
    
  • Monkey Spanker – This British company has produced the second.
  • Je Joue – Makers of the Sasi, they had a prototype of a new [REDACTED] that is going to really be a game-changer. I can’t wait to get my hands on the production version.
  • Don Wands – Great guys, and they ran what was far and away the most fun booth there.
  • Vibratex – I bent so many ears for so long there, I have to say thank you to them for putting up with me!!!
  • Sliquid – These guys are the real deal. We have loved their lubes for a while, and there is no bullshit whatsoever in their company, which is rare for a lube maker.
    

Coming out of this, it has really altered my perspective on toy reviews. Realizing now how a lot of things are going on, I think that a lot of the reviews done on blogs are really coming at this from the wrong perspective. Bloggers typically get toys from retailers, who are trying to build traffic. There is little interest in what the reviews actually say. This really misses a big opportunity here, because the people that actually make the toys seem to be working in a near-vacuum, and they genuinely want to make quality products. I think rather than churning out enormous volumes of quick reviews, a lot more could be accomplished by working with the people who actually make the toys, and starting a dialogue. It will take some time to really explore this thought as it develops, but I think a lot of bloggers could really benefit from actually getting to know the people behind the toys they test.

Before I go, I want to give a special thank you to Shaye at LELO for getting us in, and to Freddy and Eddy for being our guides throughout (and introducing us to Jenn of AVN and Jon of Monkey Rocker for a kickass dinner), and introducing us so kindly to so many people, even the Man, Tony at AVN. Also, it was really fun to finally meet a few of our Twitter friends, like Jamye, Malia, and Megan. I would also be remiss not mentioning that the folks at Screaming O really know how to throw a damned prom! I look forward to see what some of these new connections will bring, and getting to know all of these people better in the future.