Familiar is a new woman-founded sex toy company that launched earlier this year, and it only sells three sex toys at the moment. None of them are what I’d call standard fare—there’s the Aurora, a dual G-spot and clitoral stimulator with an alien-like shape, and the Orbit, a wand vibrator with a unique round ball head. But the Nebula intrigued me the most.
Unlike most vibrators that come assembled, the Nebula is so big—even bigger than the Le Wand Dive, by a little over four inches in length—that it came in two pieces. It also came with a small (and matching!) remote control, a magnetic proprietary charging cable, and a wall/floor mount. The key selling point is in the name—it can thrust like a sex machine thanks to its telescopic mechanism.
Not for the Faint of Heart
Courtesy of Familiar
The upper half of the Nebula is made of high-quality silicone, while the bottom half, which doesn’t go into the body, is made of ABS plastic. It took two hours to fully charge the Nebula, from which you only get up to 50 minutes of run time. That’s a bit surprising, because Familiar claims the battery can last for hours.
When it was ready to go, I noticed how loud this vibrating dildo is. The kind of loud that would give you a hard time keeping your sex toy use under wraps from your roommates. If you don’t try to muffle the sound with a blanket or music, your roommate might think you’re doing some sort of construction in your room. I live alone, so it doesn’t bother me, but it’s something to consider for those who don’t.
I need clitoral stimulation to orgasm, so I knew if I wanted to fully enjoy the Nebula, I’d need to bring in reinforcements—I had a bullet vibrator on the nightstand ready to go. Although Familiar calls the Nebula a telescopic thrust dildo, I didn’t realize just how, well, for lack of a better word, thrusty things were going to get. Despite it having 10 vibrations and 10 thrust modes, I never dared to go past the seventh intensity based on all the rattling and shaking that was going on in my body, my bed, and the thin walls of my apartment.
The shape of the Nebula isn’t conducive to G-spot stimulation. It’s too straight and missing the slight curve that many other internal vibrators have. When it accidentally rolled off the bed after I switched positions, it kept going. Meaning, I stood up to see my thrusting dildo heading for the door like an inchworm on a mission. The damn thing is so powerful that it didn’t stop until it hit a wall.
For Deep-Penetration Lovers
Courtesy of Familiar
While the Nebula is enjoyable for what it is and will come in handy during partnered play, if you’re someone who needs clitoral stimulation, then this isn’t going to do it without an additional vibrator added to the equation. The Nebula is powerful, can be used by anyone who loves deep penetration, and has an incredibly simple-to-use remote control. It’s just not for the faint of heart. It’s so big and aggressive in its thrusting that it might feel like overkill, though there are likely lots of people who will like that sensation.
The Nebula comes with a wall mount that’s so sturdy that, for the first time in my life, I didn’t fear an injury to myself or the wall. It can easily be mounted to the floor if you prefer to ride your dildo while being thrusted, although do be careful. The Nebula is big enough that, if you have a vulva, you can accidentally bruise your cervix if you throw caution to the wind and go buck wild on it.
For a new company, Familiar is off to a great start. It has created a line of quality silicone products, and I’m excited to see where it goes next. If you love to feel like you’re being pounded like there’s no tomorrow, then grab your favorite water-based lube (seriously, you’ll need lube for this bad boy), and go forth and conquer. Just keep in mind, only the silicone part is waterproof, so there’s no bathtub fun to be had here.