#holy crystal

[deliriumzer0]

Ayumi Hamasaki for AUBE Holy Crystal cosmetics, November 1999 Half-page flyer, memo pad cover, and 2-page magazine ad. Scans & retouching by me

[stimtoybox]

I'm really excited to post a review for you about the Fidgety Orb!!!!! It's a 12 sided fidget orb and I'm really enjoying it so far, I'll post lots of pictures, because the website I got it from didn't do it justice. I found it on hollar for $5, and I should get around to doing this within three days!!! But I'm way too excited to wait and I had to share the name of it 😶🤗

Sounds fabulous, @mindless-insight! I’m sure we’ll all be looking forward to your review. $5 is a super great price - most of the links I’ve seen for similar toys are more like $8-15 USD! I love to see discussions about new and different places to purchase toys, and Hollar hasn’t mentioned before on this blog. Thank you for bringing it up and giving us something new to investigate!

Here’s a link for folks who want to check it out ahead of time - it’s similar to the Holy Crystal.

(There’s absolutely no rush - take however long you need. We’ll wait patiently and enjoy your review when it arrives!)

- Mod K.A.

[stimtoybox]

the 12 sided magic cube/holy crystal can also be found on wish. I paid US$9 plus $2 for shipping, and now its up for free with $2 shipping. That said, I don't know about using the wish app outside of america, and I know a lot of people are weary of it because the products come from different Asian countries who might not be paying their workers enough.

Thank you so much for letting us know, anon! It’s taken me a little while to get to this, but I really appreciate your sending this one in.

(I’m pretty sure the same issues about underpaid workers apply to cheap eBay and Banggood items as well - and, in fact, to just about any inexpensive item we purchase here in the West. It’s hard when you’re disabled and don’t have a lot of money, because you often don’t have choices in not purchasing these sorts of items, but there are absolutely discussions to be had about how our consumer society is founded on underpaid workers in dangerous conditions in Asian factories.)

I, personally, am a little ambiguous about Wish - for one, it’s hard to access information about items without signing up for an account (and I personally dislike this). It also forces me to pick a binary gender (male or female) when signing up, which is unnecessary, exorsexist and dysphoria-triggering, none of which I need when I just want to look up information about cheap stim toys.

(In fairness, Banggood made me do this, too, so it isn’t just Wish. eBay didn’t, and neither did Etsy, so if NB people don’t want to endure being gendered by a program that’s going to use very binary notions of gender relating to interest to recommend items for us, I’d go shop on those sites. I know this is going to sound a little picky to cis people, but in a world where we’re hit with casual exorsexism every time we just want to go to the toilet, it’s important that we discuss this. There will be other non-binary stimmers who feel that same moment of anger, distress and dysphoria when faced with having to pick one of two alien or incorrect options just to shop for stim toys.)

On the positive side, they even have an app for Windows Phone, which is more than most sites offer. Even Tumblr no longer supports Windows Phone!

I don’t know if it’s a difference in regional pricing or just because the item sold out very quickly (this has been in my inbox a little while, but I looked soon after it arrived) at that price, but the cheapest offerings I get on Wish are for $7 AUD with $2 AUD shipping. (There’s one listing here, but there’s a few of them available.) In fact, I’ve never seen an item listed for less than $2 AUD and shipping is always estimated $2 AUD, so my feeling is that for me, at least, Wish things aren’t that extraordinarily cheap. I’ve seen the same prices for items on eBay or Banggood.

It might be that for whatever reason, I’m missing out on the very cheap listings (time, luck) or that they’re just not offered so cheaply for Aussies. I’m not sure, and I’d love to see some more non-US folk weigh in about Wish and their pricing. For example, I find Tangle Jrs listed at $2 AUD, but by the time I pay the estimated $2 AUD shipping, it’s a little more expensive than the $2 USD with free shipping Tangles I’ve bought on eBay.

(So, thus far, I’ve had to deal with dysphoria for offerings that aren’t any better than what I’d find on eBay.)

I’ve heard a lot of US folk get great deals, though, so I think it’s absolutely worth checking out (especially if you’re based in the US).

Again, thank you so much, anon, and I apologise for not posting this sooner!

- Mod K.A.

[stimtoybox]

I have a fidget cube and I really like the switch and the ball, but I don't really use the other sides. I have bigger hands and the cube is tiny and awkward in them, too. Do you have any suggestions for some bigger toys that would be like those parts of the cube? I don't have any preference for discreetness or anything.

Hey, anon! I’m so glad to be able to tell you that I do have some ideas for you!

First of all, if you still kind of like the idea of fidget cube style toys in general, you might want to check out my review of the fidget pad. Mine is thinner than the cube but almost twice as long, and the buttons and switches are either larger or wider, and it might be easier for you to use. I bought mine locally, but there’s a variety on eBay starting from $3.99 USD, many listings with free international shipping. The switch on mine is noisy but good, and the peanut shape means I can cradle the base of the toy in my hand and still work the switch with the same thumb. It’s much more comfortable than trying to do the same with the fidget cube.

(Note that the fidget pad, sadly, does not have the ball. A sad lapse, in my opinion.)

Likewise, the Holy Crystal is quite a bit larger than the fidget cube, too.

There’s also a very strange 10-sided fidget shape, $14.99 USD, which looks to be larger based on the hand (although the coin for scale doesn’t help since I have no idea what that coin is) in the photo. (Why couldn’t they do a comparison photo beside a fidget cube?) It has several switches but again, no roller ball.

For the switch, I’d direct you to the many inexpensive light switch options available on eBay. Mod Rainbow wrote this post detailing their experience with this switch - 2 for $1.13 AUD with free international shipping. Or you might like this thicker white one (perhaps easier to hold) at $1.33 AUD each. These switches, both $1 AUD each, have a larger switch in different shaped plates and might also be worth considering: one and two.

(By the way, for those who like gear-style rolling switches: 2 for $1.33 AUD, free shipping. There’s also a small red rocker switch, for folks who just want a tiny portable switch at 3 for $1.09 AUD, free shipping. And if you want small push button switches? 5 for $1.39 AUD, free shipping.)

For the ball, I’m thinking one of the several different sorts of spinners that have balls set in the spinner arms. The larger sizes of the spinners might be easier for you to hold, especially the multi-arm flower spinners. There’s many of these, so I’ll just grab a few eBay links as examples you might want to check out:

Five arm flower-shaped spinner: $1.13 USD with free shipping | sunflower spinner: $2.10 USD with free shipping | 18 ball tri-spinner: $6.99 USD with free shipping | narrow tri-spinner: $4.02 USD with free shipping.

If you want a very big ball (the base is 6 cm across!) I’d also suggest a massage roller. I’ve got this K-Mart one, $5 AUD each. It’s slightly harder to spin than the silver fidget cube balls, but not by much, and you can easily rest it on a desk or grip the base with one hand while rolling the ball with the other.

Anon, I have a feeling there’s a roller-ball-set toy I’ve forgotten. I’ve gone through my hoard and I can’t find it, but this sense of a toy I should remember is itching at my brain. I just can’t get at what it is! So if I get an anon message, comment or reblog that points out his lapse, or I remember, I’ll make sure it’s posted on the blog.

I hope, in the meantime, this gives you somewhere to begin!

- Mod K.A.

[stimtoybox]

[Image desription: Photo of a twelve-sided fidget “cube”. The one pictured is lime green with some black and pink parts. Visible are joystick, holding strap, three silders, rotating disk, a pink rubber sphere that protrudes from one side, a pink rubber pad with raised nubs, four triangle buttons, a depressed area in the style of a worry stone, and three small pink spheres protruding from one side.] Fidget Cube Review I have a couple of knock-off fidget cubes and one of the official ones. But this one intrigued me, because it’s so different to everything else on the market. The balls/spheres and rubber pad are something that I haven’t seen in other products. 

Disappointingly, it doesn’t feel very high quality. The light switch is loud. The balls and rubber pad are made of latex/natural rubber, which I’m allergic to. It’s a common allergy, and latex has a limited life and frequent quality issues. I gave mine to a 10-year-old friend, who loves it.

I bought mine from eBay for AU $12.78, shipping from China.