Review: Alchemist Echidna Echinus Sucker / Mini-penetrable

 The Alchemist Echidna Echinus

I've been curious about mini-penetrables for some time - as someone regularly lamenting the inability to sexually penetrate with their own anatomy, there's an obvious appeal to the idea of something I put myself into, rather than something I put onto myself.

However, a lot of petite penetrables are designed with transmasculine people on T in mind. They're often open-backed sleeves, designed to accommodate t-dick as a scaled-down stroker. I'm not on T (yet!!!) and if I'm honest, even by non-testosterone-ised standards, humbly endowed. So a lot of those toys aren't for me - they would, quite simply, be too big!

What I was looking for was something closed-backed, capable of suction, and able to get a close fit. A cis female user in a toy discord I follow spoke with great enthusiasm of this cute sea-urchin-shaped toy as a nipple sucker and mini penetrable, though... 

My interest was piqued immediately. I mean, look at it. It's adorable. 

Aesthetic

 The Echinus is a cute little thing! Modeled as its name suggests on a sea urchin, this toy is not the most Obviously Sex Toy looking thing - when I first showed it to my housemate ('behold, new toy! is part of our lives, haha) her question was immediately one of 'wait, what is this for?' 

After I demonstrated on the palm of her hand, her response was a fascinated and immediately enlightened, 'Oh!' 

It's very pleasing to look at, squishy and tactile to hold with all its little ridges and nubbins. I genuinely think you could pass the Echinus off as a stim toy. 

Like, sometimes I straight up do just use it as a stim toy. 

Squimshy. :)

- 

Specs

The Echinus is very round and 2.5 inches across, able to fit very comfortably in the palm of even my little goblin hands. The opening is just over 0.6 inches across, and 1.3 inches deep.

I imagine this might end up being a little too small for someone with significant bottom growth, but for those of us on the more modest side, and when used for nipple play, it's got plenty of room for suction.

 -

In Use

I have no difficulty at all getting a suction seal against my body with this toy.  Its rounded shape means the 'mouth' is raised, so pressing it flush to any area and suctioning out the air will cause it to latch on pretty sturdily, even without lubrication. I honestly enjoyed just pressing it to my palm and giving it little 'kisses' - if pulled back while still suctioned on, it makes an audible soft pop. It's cute.

(Sorry I keep calling it cute. It is, though.) 

What did startle me to begin with is that the base is slightly thinner than I thought; when heavily suctioned onto an area of skin, the base bows inward and creates a little crease from how strongly pulled in it gets. I was worried it was going to tear, but I didn't give the silicone enough credit. Thus far, it's held up absolutely fine. I still get nervous letting it hold full suction for too long, though!

As the person who I saw mention it said, it makes a great nipple sucker. It's the first toy I've used for that purpose, and it does so wonderfully - squeezing and pulsing the Echinus while it's latched on feels excellent. As does gently pulling it until it detaches with a pop. It may not be able to replicate the exact sensation of having someone's mouth on you, but it's close enough for me. It's easy to vary the degree of suction just by squeezing it, so it's able to be very gentle but also capable of a surprisingly strong pull.

This has ended up being the primary way I use the Echinus - it's such a good partner to genital stimulation. If you crave mouth-on-nipple sensation while getting off, this toy readily provides. 

But of course, I did not buy the Echinus for foreplay alone. I bought it as a mini-penetrable! 

God, I am curious how this thing would feel if I did have bottom growth, though. The mouth is still too large for me to use it in a stroking capacity, but there's little bumps inside that I imagine would be texturally enjoyable! Instead, I have to take advantage of the suction, placing it so my clit is pulled inside as I release my grip, squeezing and releasing to produce rhythmic suction.

Used this way, it is a bit of a grip workout, but it feels delicious. When squeezed tightly, it also compresses the opening so the walls of the cavity press in and rub against me, which gives a sense of what perhaps it would feel like if I were big enough to fill it out. It also presumably stimulates bloodflow a bit like a pump - it doesn't take long for me to feel like I've got hard enough to really start to feel the toy around me.

It's the kind of sensation I personally really enjoy, and I like that by its nature how soft or intense it is can be adjusted on the fly. It's nice to have a non-vibrator option for external stimulation, toywise. I feel like this would be a good toy for teasing, able to be nuzzled between someone's legs to suck them while one's own mouth is left free, you know?

Given that it's such a different feeling from a vibrator or familiar manual masturbation, I didn't know what to expect in terms of Will This Toy Get Me Off? It absolutely does, it turns out, and easily. It's more of a slow burn and isn't the intensity of, say, a powered suction toy - but the pumping effect does wonders for sensitivity. For me, at least, it was surprisingly effective?? Again, if you don't mind the hand workout. (I do not mind the hand workout.) This thing can and will suck you silly style by the sea shore. 

...also. Also, an aside. Okay, if there is a thing that will become apparent about me through my reviews it's that I am a Wet Noises Enjoyer. It makes cute and pleasingly organic sucking noises if lifted away while still latched, even more so if well-lubricated! Great for the audioscape whilst fantasising. (It still gives great suction while dry - if you're worried about audible sucking noises, skip the lube and it still feels lovely but is much quieter. It's not loud when wet per se, but it's definitely comparable to Unabashed Mouth Suction Sounds.)

All in all, I adore the Echinus. It's become very swiftly a staple - one of the chosen few given the privilege of Bedside Table Resident Toy. (The other is the Fun Factory Volta.) It's just a really well-designed sucker, a mini-penetrable that can perform for smaller anatomies, and the design is so charming. 

 -

Other notes

 Being a closed-backed toy, cleaning the Echinus is perhaps fiddlier than an open-backed toy would be, but I've never had an issue with it! Working either toy cleaner or some soap into it and then rinsing it out, part-drying it upside down and then flipping it rightways again has been fine for me. :)

--

In conclusion, if you're a suction liker and want to approximate a mouth on your nipples, your neck, your junk, or frankly just about anywhere... I can heartily recommend this toy. It's just straight up good at the thing it does. It sucks (complimentary). It sucks excellently.