Adult Novelty Expo Plays to Eager Crowds

LAS VEGAS—Attendees of AVN’s Adult Entertainment Expo at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas are granted access to the full spectrum of adult products, including the exhibits at the Adult Novelty Expo (ANE), where pleasure product vendors showcase every imaginable piece of hardware one might need to tickle their sexual fancy—from supplements to lingerie, dildos and vibrators in every color and design, heavy hardware for fetish fun, and even full-size ultra-realistic love dolls crafted to look (and feel) like favorite adult stars (or their various body parts). Adult entertainment enthusiasts are often early adopters of advanced technology. That trend was definitely on display at this year’s ANE. Increasingly, like many household items, the most advanced sex gear is powered and has dedicated apps with endless options for personalization, remote capability, and online connectivity. Crowds that filled the show floor for ANE were eager to see the latest in haptics and virtual reality, as well as the adult stars and content creators who appeared on behalf of brands that manufacture signature sex toy products, which the performers merchandise to fans and subscribers. Smart sex toys that allow users to program a customized vibration patterns or operate toys remotely could be found in several exhibitor’s displays, including Motorbunny’s collection of sex machines like its newly released Fluffer controller. The influence of gaming culture on sex tech products was another important trend, as evident with the Fluffer. By integrating with Motorbunny’s dedicated app, the controller can be used with any compatible gaming console to remotely control the rideable Motorbunny base unit, which can be outfitted with various insertable attachments. For example, as one partner rides the Motorbunny, the other partner can be in the next room or across the country, controlling the motion of the Motorbunny remotely. If the partner with the controller is playing a video game like Grand Theft Auto with the Fluffer controller attachment, the action of the Motorbunny will sync with the action of the gameplay. Motorbunny representative Karla Lane said she enjoys racing games the most when using the app-based technology. An occasional cam model, she uses an earlier version of the technology for video chats but will soon upgrade with the Fluffer controller. “Let’s face it—guys love control. We’re giving the fantasy of control, that they can control your orgasm and they love it... It’s all about interaction. You can easily send them the link for this and they can control it,” Lane described. In addition to the Motorbunny saddle with its attachments, pocket strokers are also being developed for camming clients on the other end of a virtual connection. Eventually, the company hopes to include more accessories that can be integrated with the app and Fluffer controller. With the emergence of AI and other advanced manufacturing technologies, the very high end of interactivity was demonstrated with the collab between fan-favorite brands Fleshlight and Vixen Studios. A long line of show attendees waited to meet Vixen’s contract stars, who autographed specially designed, limited 2025 AVN Show edition Fleshlight strokers that had been crafted to replicate each star’s specific anatomy using 3D camera imaging. “Usually the regular Fleshlights are in a white plastic, but they did these in this see-through with glitter—I think it’s brilliant to do them for the show with each girl,” Vixen Media Group’s Mike Moz told AVN. “I mean, we’re all looking for a way to stand out and do something different, so this is a great way to do that.” Stars in the booth included Maitland Ward, Vanna Bardot, Brandi Love, Valentina Nappi, Alina Lopez, and Angel Youngs, among others from Vixen’s exclusives roster that appeared all day long. A display wall studded with silicone stroker sleeves allowed fans to actually touch the models’ anatomically correct Fleshlights. The future of fapping was also featured in the booth with a demonstration of the technology being developed to bring connectivity to the iconic stroker. Popular webcam performer Sasha Nakamoto is the model for the brand’s first Fantasy line stroker, which features the model’s anime avatar and a tentacle design. At the booth, she wore a complete motion capture bodysuit, wired with dozens of sensors, as she operated a webcam setup using a phone, multiple cameras, and monitors to demonstrate her virtual avatar on a large screen—an anime-like recreation of her in the generated environment of a Tokyo love hotel room on a rainy night. Nakamoto’s every movement translated smoothly to her avatar’s actions onscreen, so exact that she was able to make her avatar wink at will with a tracking camera picking up her real-time facial expressions. There are also hundreds of animation effects to choose from, so with a keystroke, Nakamoto’s avatar can be instantly naked or transform into a sexy demon. “This picks up all the different face movements at 60 frames a second and sends it to the game engine. So whatever her face does, it does it up in here. So, she has to always be looking at the phone,” developer Bill Sifert explained. His company’s first product with Fleshlight, the FapCap, is an adapter that can be attached to a stroker to enable it to sync to onscreen action, is available now—but it’s only the next step in development of a completely immersive, interactive experience. One of two models that uses the technology on webcam platform Streamate, Nakamoto had already been well-known for her hentai-themed content before using the new system for about last five months. “I explain to [users] that I’m a real, live girl and that I have a motion sensor suit and they’re just mind blown,” Nakamoto described. With endless options to choose from, she said a couple of requests from the fans stand out. “They love the Succubus. That’s a sex demon, designed to drain... and I would say that one of the most requested [fantasies] is my ‘futa,’ which is ‘futamari’—which basically means an anime girl with a cock.” She reached over and with one click, her onscreen avatar sprouted a huge penis—then, Nakamoto stroked it with the motion sensor glove. Another keystroke made the penis squirt. Still in development, Sifert said it won’t be too long before the technology can be scaled to offer a viable system to cam models and their clients; the prototype used by Nakamoto would be cost prohibitive, at about $20,000. Getting interactive with favorite performers was also a trend illustrated by the availability of hyper-realistic sex toys modeled after adult stars and their body parts. Real Doll, who had a booth in the main hall, recently went viral when NBA star Lamar Odom ordered a sex doll replica of his reality star ex-wife Khloe Kardashian. At the Irontech Doll booth, gay model and Men.com exclusive Drake Von posed with his life-size, replica sex doll and its huge, detachable silicone penis. He told AVN jokingly that the size was “pretty accurate.” Von said that he was taking the demo model home, after the convention, but that fans would soon be able to order his doll. For the budget-minded, a hyper-realistic silicone replica of Von’s head will also be available. If such innovations seem extreme to some, more traditional vibrators and dildos still do the job. Designs on display at ANE focus on every aspect of stimulation, whether that means targeting a specific spot or just keeping things simple. Vendors like Honey Play Box and Luxxe showed off their sleek silicone designs, in every color and style. At Maia Toys, their most popular line has a 420 theme. The rabbit-style vibrator features a pot leaf-shaped tickler (instead of bunny ears like the original Rabbit). The most novel item in the line is called the Vaporator, the “world’s first smokable vibrator.” Travel-sized with 20 vibration functions, the Vaporator can also fit a 510-thread vape cartridge for a sesh that would be satisfying in more ways than one. “I’m old—so, if I don’t know how to use it, we’re not producing it,” said Maia Toys’ VP of Sales Lisa Hanna, in regards to app-powered novelties. “I’m on my phone 15 hours a day—I’m not taking it in the bedroom with me.” Photography by Mari Blue. For more photos from the 2025 AVN Show, click here.