Community Feature with LilFox Toybox

An image of the LilFox Toybox logo with a link to their Instagram page.

Hello and welcome to Beyond Taboo’s very first blog post! I will be updating this blog on a monthly basis and it will feature educational articles, community spotlights, and interviews. Anyone wanting to be featured can reach out via the contact form on this website or e-mail me directly at talis@beyondtaboo.me.

For this first post, I am honored and excited to feature and interview a Hampton Roads, VA kink community staple, LilFox Toybox. The owners, Papa Shroeder and LilFox are a dynamic powerhouse duo who not only make some of the highest quality, innovative BDSM toys but are also one of the established safe play spaces for the local kinksters, community leaders, and educators. Their toys have become known enough to the point of two of them becoming internet memes and LilFox Toybox works hard all year around to vend and participate at some of the most prolific kink events around the country.

I have been fortunate to call LilFox Toybox my friends and teachers in the kink community and I am a proud owner of a number of their toys, as well as an occasional test subject for prototypes. My personal favorites include their range of blood play items (I own two vampire paddles and the beautiful, mean, mean bloodchete) and a custom High Protocol scotch/cigar service tray that features vampire spikes on the underside as well as a pair of wrist restraints. I am also a proud owner of a massive custom horse hair flogger from their first release line and a set of Florentine floggers made with gorgeous purple heart wood and horse hair.

An image of blood play impact toys: curry comb, vampire paddles, and a needle paddle

You can find a list of links to their products, social media pages, and their personal favorite kink toy vendors throughout and at the end of this post.

First, BT would like to introduce Papa Shroeder, the creatively twisted and one-of-a-kind mastermind behind LilFox.

Shroeder has been an impact Top and toy maker for 20 years. In 2019, he founded LilFox Toy Box with the intent of providing a wider variety of quality impact toys utilizing physics principles to drive product designs. He also designs and creates an impressive range of custom products, aimed at enhancing the experience across the whole spectrum of BDSM play styles. New products are released regularly throughout the year. Currently, Shroeder and his wife/sub, LilFox, travel the country vending at various kink events full time.

Shroeder’s life partner and submissive, LilFox runs her own part of the business with the Lil’St Kit Toy Shoppe, a custom stuffed toy and accessory boutique where littles and anyone else can find high quality, personalized stuffies, clothing, and much more! You will be seeing a separate blog post for Lil’St Kit further down the road!

An image of the Lil’St Kit Shoppe logo

Now, to the interview!

How did you start making kink toys and why?

Someone had asked me at one point if I could make a vampire paddle and we posted it online. A lot of people saw it, liked it, and wanted it. At that point we thought, “Huh, well maybe we can make a thing of this.”

How has your business evolved over time and where do you hope it goes next?

Well, the biggest thing from the beginning was coming up with new stuff. To really look at what impact play is and what aspects of various materials, densities, surface areas, and other physical qualities make toys feel the way they feel. We originally started off with four types of paddles and I was really proud to have 75 total at our very first vending event. The constant evolution and challenge of trying to always come up with new stuff, totaling up to four to six new releases a year has really brought up and solidified our shop more, I think. Our customers know that when they walk into the LilFox booth, they will see something new.

As far as where we are going with the impact toy side of the business – I will continue to add new toy designs. We are also going to be moving into catering to more niche play styles that are currently lacking a supply and variety of toys. Providing the unique and niche is a passion of mine for sure. I find those things that no one else is making and take it over, make it cooler and better for our customer base. Of course, we are also going to continue to expand our line of blood play items as well. We have a whole new like of pet and pony play gear coming out in the Spring of 2025.

Moving forward with the business, we will eventually start expanding our online presence and doing less in-person events. I want to get away from a production-line mentality and making a bunch of the same toy repeatedly. I’d like to step back and start focusing on more of one-off, limited items; I might end up with fewer toys at shows but they will be of higher quality, with a lot more intricate design work, and more bells and whistles than my current toy range.

Who, if anyone, has influenced or inspired your work? Or maybe you are inspired by other things or sources?

My biggest source of inspiration is the potential for toys and items that are currently not available in the market. I try to identify what is lacking and what niche thing I can do to help bring novelty and innovation to the community.

What are your top three most popular toys at the moment?

It’s hard to say because the flavor of every event we vend at and the hot item at that event are different. I can say that all three sizes of our war clubs sell out consistently, as well as my wooden knives. Every show is different. My brick paddles are always a good seller. If it’s an event such as the Dark Odyssey outdoor event, my cattails and other blood play items sell really well. Lastly, if I had to pick one more item, I would say my new floggers.

Please describe your current range of toys and other items.

Obviously, the business started with a lot of rigid impact items, so think paddles, but not just the stingy ones. A lot of consideration has went into them in terms of physics and materials to give an individual a variety of sensations which has become our baseline standard. Our blood play items are one of LilFox signature lines. They are made with non-porous material which is true for all of our blood play items in order for them to be sterilizable and easily cleaned. We will also be offering consumables like gauze, needles, staples, etc.. I plan to have a medical cabinet set up in the shop. The new line of leather pet and pony play gear is getting close to being released. I just spent a week in Florida with Water Hole Leather, my leather mentor, and we prototyped a bunch of new gear. We will have close to 12-15 new release items by this April. There is also the flogger line. I also make furniture. Honestly, our range is very wide and is constantly evolving!

What are some of your favorite kink events to attend?

Well, in order to answer that, I have to specify that there are different parts to vending that make one event more fun/better than the next. A lot of people don’t realize that when they see us at an event, we are there working and have already been there a significant length of time before they have shown up. So, I would kind of divide this up as a favorite load-in process. Some are definitely easier than others. Favorite event to load into? FetCon, because we get two days to load in and set up. It’s so luxurious, you can even take naps during the process. But, it is not one of the most fun to sell at because it’s not a BDSM event, but a fetish event. As far as our favorite to sell at, it would have to be the Dark Odyssey Summer Camp. However, there is a lot more to the load-in. There is so much infrastructure. There are tents, the cooking area, the flooring that I bring. I’m onsite for eight days doing all of that. But I do like the event, the event is great. Because it is a week long, there’s a steady stream of customers and the booth never gets overcrowded unlike at hotel events.

What advice can you give to the BDSM newbies?

Obviously, they need to get active in the community so they can learn what’s what. I highly recommend finding someone to mentor under who follows the same kind of BDSM path you are interested in. Of course, remember that that path will evolve. Talk to people, but be picky with your company. Ask a lot of questions, be open and honest in your negotiations, meet a lot of individuals and make sure those you spend your time with are vetted and safe players.

When shopping for toys, what are some things you should look for as far as finding a quality item?

For me, it can be a variety of factors. I want to feel the balance of the toy. The weight is also a very personal thing for me – I prefer heavier toys. I would consider the intended purpose of the toy. Are you looking for thuddy, stingy, etc.? The answers to those questions will dictate what you are after. If you want something stingy, you want an item that is lighter with a larger surface area or made out of some whippy leather or similar. If you want thud, you are going to go for convex, high density toys that deliver a lot of mass to a smaller area. Alongside the sensation, the general quality is vital. Check the finish – is it sanded smoothly? If it needs to be braided (falls on a horse hair flogger, for example), are the braids tight? Are the falls nice and even, straight, and trimmed off neatly at the bottom? Does the handle feel comfortable and sturdy? Does it feel like it would break? Always, always, always, test the toy on your forearm and not on the palm of your hand. I see a lot of people do that in my booth and I always tell them to point the toy to another spot on the bottom’s body that is concave and that you’re planning on using for impact. Well, there is not one. Therefore, the feeling you get when striking the palm of your hand with a toy will not be accurate compared to what the bottom will be feeling. I always tell people to go for the meaty portion of the forearm instead.

In what ways do you participate and lead within our local kink community?

We are one of the five active dungeon spaces in the Hampton Roads community. We were the only dungeon space that operated through COVID with proper safety precautions in place with zero incidents or infections. So, in a way, we kept the community together during that time. Most recently, we, alongside other local groups, have pulled together a joint community munch where we also serve as vendor coordinators. We enhance the munch by bringing in out of state vendors with quality toys and clothing in order to expose them to those in our community who might not be able to travel and attend out of state events.

Lastly, how do you feel about two of your toys (the brick paddle and the rubber chicken flogger) becoming such popular Internet memes?

Sigh. The chicken flogger. I struggle with the chicken flogger, because I know I could make 20 right now and have 20 of them sold in an hour. But it’s such a novelty and I don’t like to make novelty or toys that don’t have a purpose. So, until I can find a way to make the chicken flogger better, I do not want to make another one. The brick paddle’s meme success does not surprise me. Everyone who sees it is either intrigued or horrified. I don’t know, man, it’s cool I guess. Meme it up!