Starburst fantasy feather - tickler discontinued by Sportsheets - review by pixieluv

For anyone who is either starting to explore or is an advanced sexual adventurer, this (or one like it) is something everyone should have in their toy box! It's great for body exploration and sensual play and a part of light bondage as well. Since there are different ones out there, I will try to make this review more of a comparison to the others here at Eden, to be most helpful.

This tickler is made of feathers, more specifically this one has what are considered to be contour feathers which have a main part where the barbs are attached and the bottom part which is the afterfeather area. The feathers are all about the same length (around 4-5 inches) with about 10-12 feathers in it. The feathers are pretty secure in the attachment part which then is attached to a long plastic stick about a foot long. The plastic stick is sturdy but flexible, but can break if flexed too far.

The feathers are very soft to the touch for a nice little tickle. There is no strong odor to it, but anyone who is allergic to down or if you get the feather too close to the nose might cause a bit of a sneezing fit.

So for the performance of this toy, it works just as a feather tickler should. It's soft, light to the touch, sensual, and tickles. But here is how it differs from the others on Eden:

As stated this is made of contour feathers. This is similar to the Pleasure Feather or the Fresh Feather Crop. The difference between this and the Pleasure Feather is that this one has the long plastic stick attached where the Pleasure Feather only has a small strap attached to it. The Fresh Feather Crop however does have the long stick, but the Fresh Feather Crop only has one color style (blue with pink) whereas this comes in 6 different colors for your taste. The Fresh Feather Crop also costs over twice as much, but it may have more quality in the "crop" or stick part than this one does.

The Tantra Feather Teaser is also similar in that it has contour feathers but it is a combination of contour feathers and down feathers and is attached to a shorter metal grip and costs twice as much.

As stated this tickler is made from contour feathers which differ from the down feathers of these similar types of ticklers:
PomPom Tickler
Playful Tickler
Fluffer Tickler

The down type of feather is much more fluffy and more prone to have little bits come off of it. With the contour feather type if you trail the feathers down your lover it will feel more like light little fingers from the individual feathers. The ones made of down feathers feel more like a light cotton ball going across. Just a slightly different feel. Also as you can see the PomPom is like the Pleasure Feather in that it has a strap and not a stick and the Playful Tickler has the stick like this one. A little different from the other two is the Fluffer Tickler which is on a stick but a combination of both down feathers and what are called afterfeathers which are a part of the bottom of a feather that is long light and thin.

Lastly, there is one other type of feather which is a plume or semiplume and can be found in the Ostrich Feather Tickler which is one big fluffy feather to tickle with instead of many little feathers like this one.

Due to the fact that this one has a long stick, you could use it for a little whipping, but it also could leave marks if done too hard. I personally just use it for light play and if swatting, only lightly.

Ah, now the fun part and where I ran into trouble...

Care for this is simple:

1) Do not use any liquid or get it in contact with liquid, either from a bottle or from you. If you use it near genitals that are wet, it will get onto the feathers and make them stick together. You could try to rinse it a little and leave it out to dry, but your fluffy tickler will not be the same.

2) Do not leave it out collecting dust. It is similar to a feather duster and will attract dust, webs, hair, etc. Not too bad if it is a little, just shake it out, but with accumulation can turn your feather tickler into an allergy nightmare.

3) Do not leave it out where cats or other animals (and sometimes even little boys or girls) can find it and play with it. This is where mine died. First my son found it and thought it looked just like the cat toy we bought for our kitten, SO he went to play with the kitty and by the time I discovered it, most of the feathers were still attached to the stick but were mangled, wet with kitty spit and/or missing bits and pieces which were all over the floor. So if you want to keep your tickler, keep it in a drawer.

No package, just a cute little cardboard attachment saying what it is.

Just to note, while this tickler is inexpensive, it is pretty well made in that the feathers do not come out. On the other hand, for cheap thrills, it is almost exactly like the feather teasers for cats which you can buy cheap at a pet store or someplace like Target. Either way you get one, and depending on what kind of a feel you want from your feather, this type of product is a must have for everyone's toy box. I personally loved this one because of the quality of the feathers, but alas my kitty loved it too.