The days when a blow-up, cartoonish sex doll represented the state of the art are over. Today, big-ticket ultra-realistic novelties such as the legendary RealDoll and CybOrgasMatrix's Pandora Peaks Doll have taken sex dolls to the edge of believability, with hyper-realistic skin/flesh, and truly accurate physical features. It's a change that has been noted in the mainstream media. For instance, the recent film comedy "Lars and The Real Girl" featured a RealDoll in a lead role!
This believability is no accident: "We model our dolls directly on the human form, by creating molds directly from our models' bodies," notes Kyle Bronson, CybOrgasMatrix's VP Operations. "We're after realism to the nth degree. For instance, we have to tell our models not to wear panties a few hours before the life castings, because you can see the elastic lines that the panties cut into their flesh in the finished mold, and there's no way to get rid of it."
That's just the beginning. CybOrgasMatrix's sex dolls are made using an elastomeric gel with six times the elasticity and strength of silicon-you can see the video proof at www.cyborgasmatrix.com-and feature robotic pelvic movement (with a built-in motor), real hair, and a 3D stereo recording of Pandora Peaks having sex via a supplied MiniDisc player and wireless headset.
"What makes the 3D voice recording unique is the proprietary recording technique that we use," Bronson says. "We actually captured Pandora Peak's moans using microphones placed on her male partner's ears, so you can hear the wet hissing of the licking, and the wet slap of intercourse, in 3D realism."
Of course, CybOrgasMatrix and RealDolls come with multi-thousand dollar price tags, which puts such sex dolls beyond the budget of most adult store customers. So what will consumers pay? "For basic ones with no features, $30-$35 sell well," says Dave Levine, a.k.a ‘Sextoy Dave', owner of www.sextoy.com. "For more advanced dolls $150 is a good price, but people will pay more for better quality or for the fantasy they want."
"Dolls that are really intended as a gag gift or even as part of a game usually retail between $20 and $30," echos Desiree Duffie, director of marketing and public relations for Topco Sales. "The more features and the more 'useable' the doll is, the higher the price tag." For the record, Topco's big ticket sex doll is the TLC/Hustler Virtual Girl, which sells for under $1000.
Traditionally, sex dolls have been designed for personal, secluded usage. However, the Internet has opened up new possibilities, such as creating sex dolls whose motions could be controlled by live sex chat hostesses over the Web. And once again, that's just the beginning, according to Topco's Duffie. "I envision worlds like SecondLife being interactive playgrounds where users can use toys, dolls, all sorts of devices to interact with each other in a multitude of ways," she says. "With an army of robotic dolls, virtual orgies could be had!"
At least, that's the concept. In reality, "People have been theorizing about remote controlled sex over the Internet for years, but there has been little to no actual demand for it," says Sextoy Dave. "Price has been a problem, but even inexpensive vibrators that can be controlled over the Internet have not sold."
So what does Sextoy Dave see as the best possible future for mass-market sex dolls, and the right price? "$100 for a decent looking sturdy doll with custom-made big boobs, a soft blow job mouth, and a realistic soft rubber vagina," he replies. Sex doll manufacturers, take note!
Pictured: TLC/Hustler Virtual Girl from Topco Sales
