Nothosaur Review: Fantasy Silicone at Half the Price, With Trade-Offs

The catalog is broad for a maker at this price. Fantasy dildos are the core, starting with werewolf knots (Graemen is the flagship), horses (Hunter Jack, Conola), dragons, tentacles (Alla), ovipositors, and a run of anthro and creature designs. Around those sit butt plugs, masturbators, packers, cock rings, urethral toys and their own lube. If Bad Dragon's range is the reference point, Nothosaur covers most of the same creature territory with fewer iconic single designs and more variants.

The prices come straight from their store data, because they are the whole argument for the brand. Graemen, the knot, runs $59.99 in Small, $69.99 Medium, $99.99 Large, $139.99 XL, $179.99 XXL, then climbs through XXXL at $349.99 to a 4XL "Legendary" at $499.99. Hunter Jack, the horse, goes $59.99 to $339.99 across six sizes with Medium at $119.99. Conola, another horse, $79.99 to $179.99. Alla, the tentacle, $79.99 up to about $380 at the top size.

Put a Medium Graemen at $69.99 next to a Bad Dragon Medium at $130 before options, or a Mr Hankey's piece at $65.95 to $389.95, and the gap is the product. For a first fantasy toy, or for someone who wants to try a shape before committing real money to it, that gap is the reason to read on.

One caution on the store itself. Exact dimensions live in size-chart images on each product page rather than in text, so read the chart carefully before choosing a size, and remember the fantasy-community rule that a Medium from one maker is a Large from another. Conola's own product page warns that suction strength drops in the larger sizes, which is the kind of honesty I'd like to see more of.

The material is platinum-cure silicone, and Nothosaur does something most budget brands don't. They post third-party test documents. The site links two SGS test results for their silicone and describes it as body-safe and hypoallergenic. I confirmed the links exist and lead to documents; I haven't audited what's in them, so treat this as "documentation posted" rather than "verified by me." That's still a level above the brands that just print the word platinum on a product page and hope you don't ask. For what those tests mean and don't mean, the body-safe materials guide covers it.

Firmness is where the brand loses its footing. Nothosaur offers three levels, Soft, Medium and Hard, but not on every toy. Its firmness guide says some shapes, Graemen among them, can't be made in another firmness, the Lykos page offers only Medium, and every stocked limited-color toy is Medium. No Shore hardness values are published anywhere, which matters because Shore is the closest thing to a firmness number you can compare across brands. And the most common complaint from people who own them is that these toys run soft. Two sponsored blog reviews say it in different words. One found the firmer of the Alla's two options "slightly too floppy" for penetration, the other called the Medium "still pretty squishy." A Trustpilot one-star from a buyer who paid over $160 apiece for the hardest option says they "aren't even usable. So soft." On Reddit, an owner recommending the XXL Graemen still warns the material "may be a little on the soft and floppy side." Not everyone agrees, though. One multi-model owner on r/SexToys rates the Medium as identical to Bad Dragon's Medium. But the softness reports come from sponsored reviewers, angry buyers and happy buyers alike, which is what makes them hard to dismiss.

Dual densityDual-density siliconeA soft outer layer poured over a firmer core, so the toy gives like skin on the surface and still holds its shape. More in the glossary is close to absent. Nothosaur's firmness guide still says it can't make a toy with a soft outer layer over a hard core, yet it now sells one dual-density toy, the Banner Dual Density, in a single XXL Plus size for $309.99. Everything else is single-pour silicone. Dual density is what makes the expensive realistic pieces from Vixen and NYTC feel the way they do, and it's a big part of what you're paying for there. At Nothosaur's prices, single-pour is the trade.

If soft-and-squishy is the sensation you want, none of the above is a problem. If you want a firm knot that stays put under pressure, Graemen and Lykos are out, because both come only in Medium. On a model that offers Hard, order it and expect it to feel like another brand's Medium, or shop elsewhere.

Warning

Order Hard if you want anything firm at all, on a toy that offers it. Every stocked color is Medium, and so are Graemen and Lykos. Multiple buyers report Nothosaur's Medium as squishy and its Hard as roughly what other makers call Medium. There are no Shore numbers to check, so the community consensus is the spec sheet.

Nothosaur runs a hybrid model. Stocked "limited color" versions ship from warehouses in the United States, Germany and Japan, which is a real convenience advantage over the made-to-order queues at the indie makers. Custom colors and custom-firmness pieces are made to order in China and ship from there. The stated processing time is 7 to 10 business days before dispatch for most orders; custom work "may require a little extra," with no firm figure published.

Customization is decent for the money. You pick color (stock schemes or a custom scheme, and they'll work from a reference photo), one of the three firmness levels, size, and a base, choosing between standard suction cup, Vac-U-Lock adapter, a hybrid, or a sex-machine adapter. Not every model takes every option. Graemen and Lykos come only in Medium, and so does every stocked limited color, so a Hard toy is always made to order. Check the configurator before you fall in love with a combination.

Shipping is discreet, and this one I can say with confidence. Unmarked brown boxes, address and tracking only on the label, and buyers on Trustpilot and both blog reviews confirm it. EU customers get import VAT and duties prepaid on most orders, which is a nice touch. Payment options are broad, including PayPal, Apple Pay, Klarna and UnionPay.

Then the returns policy, which is the harshest I've written up in this category. There are no returns for change of mind, wrong size or wrong color, on the grounds that the products are intimate and often made to order. Defects must be reported within 72 hours of delivery, with photos. Seventy-two hours. If a flaw shows up on the second weekend you use the thing, you're on your own. Read the size chart twice, open the box the day it arrives, and inspect it under good light.

Defect window

72 hrs

From delivery, with photos. No returns otherwise.

Processing

7-10 days

Business days before dispatch, for most orders.

Note

Stick to water-based lube only. Silicone lube can degrade some silicone surfaces, and with a 72-hour defect window you don't want to be arguing about whether the damage was yours.

Buyers like them. That's the first fact and it's a solid one. 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 166 reviews, 87 percent five-star, with praise for build quality, packaging, support responsiveness and the occasional freebie in the box. The negatives cluster around delivery, a package marked delivered that never arrived, shaky tracking, and the softness complaint above. Trustpilot also notes the company hasn't replied to its negative reviews, which tells you something about how much they engage when things go wrong.

The company itself is a different story. The terms of service name the legal entity as Hong Kong Kuren Group Co., Ltd., with no street address, no registration number, no founders and no facility location. The brand page says "founded in 2010" as a small independent studio, and wraps the whole thing in fictional lore about a place called Nothosaur Mainland. The domain, meanwhile, was registered in March 2019 through Alibaba Cloud in Beijing, and I found no trace of the brand before that. Maybe there's a workshop history I couldn't find. Maybe 2010 is marketing. Either way, a company that hides who it is while telling a founding story I can't check gets marked down for it, because the makers it competes with, Primal Hardwere, Bad Dragon, Hankey's, SquarePeg, all put a name and a place behind their products.

And there's the allegation I can't verify but can't leave out. In October 2023, Twisted Beast, a UK fantasy maker, publicly pointed to what it called the shitty business practices of Nothosaur and two other brands it says are affiliated, announced it would stop working with influencers who promote them, and told people to buy from Hankey's, Topped Toys, SquarePeg and "the other original makers" instead. Some Reddit commenters go further and allege design copying. That's anonymous forum talk, I couldn't verify it, and I'm not treating it as fact. The evidence thread Twisted Beast linked sits behind an age gate I couldn't read either, so even the named part of this is a public stance from a competitor, not a finding. It still matters, because a working maker putting its name to a boycott is a different thing from a Reddit account doing it, and if you care about buying from original designers you'll want to know the stance exists.

Against Bad Dragon: Nothosaur is the budget version of the same idea, at roughly half the price for equivalent sizes, with faster shipping on stocked colors. BD wins on firmness options that mean something, on surface finish, on community, and on being a known company in Arizona. If money is the constraint, Nothosaur. If it isn't, BD.

Against Primal Hardwere: the original-maker comparison. Primal is made in the USA by a registered New Hampshire company, in platinum-cure silicone, and its dildos run $55 to $135 before options. If the design-copying allegations bother you, Primal is an original maker at similar prices, and you get the ovipositor specialists thrown in.

Against Mr Hankey's: different league. Hankey's pours denser silicone in four firmness levels that mean what they say, and prices it accordingly: $65.95 for an XS, $125.95 to $189.95 for the Perfect Penis, $329.95 for a 4XL Goliath. Nothosaur isn't trying to be that. Anyone cross-shopping these two wants different things.

Against SquarePeg: the interesting one. SquarePeg makes deliberately soft toys and puts it right in the name: SuperSoft. Nothosaur makes accidentally soft toys and publishes nothing. If squishy is the goal, buy it from the brand that means it.

Note

Nothosaur for price and stocked-color speed. Bad Dragon for the originals and real firmness. Primal Hardwere for original designs from a registered US maker. SquarePeg if soft is the point. Hankey's if you want the densest silicone and firmness labels that mean what they say.

First-timers on a budget. If you've never owned a fantasy toy and want to find out whether a knot or a horse is your thing without spending $150 on the experiment, a $60 to $70 Medium from Nothosaur answers the question cheaply, in a body-safe material. Where the model offers Hard, order it.

Size explorers. The catalog goes to 4XL, and an XL or XXL Graemen ($139.99 or $179.99) still costs less than a Bad Dragon XL ($225). For size play on a budget, that matters, and the softer silicone is actually more forgiving at the extreme sizes.

Anyone who wants soft on purpose. If squishy and flexible is your preference, Nothosaur's default is your feature. Just know you're getting there by accident on their end.

Who should look elsewhere: anyone who wants a firm toy, anyone who wants dual-density realism in a normal size, anyone who values a returns policy with actual room in it, and anyone for whom buying from the original designer is part of the point. For dual density, look at Vixen. For a firm toy or the original designer, Bad Dragon or Hankey's, though neither takes returns for a wrong size. The fantasy dildo guide ranks every fantasy maker.