Bead strings are as old as humanity. If something feels good during both entry and exit, why not indulge built-in repetitions? Hence the strings. Most are alike, with both the beads true to the name, and the string, like so. There may be wide gaps inbetween the beads, or there may be none. The beads may be balls, ringed ellipsoids, or even spades. Anal Link XL is the most massive backdoor chain in existence. The beads are spade-shaped, a rarity in this arena, as the toy draws on the strengths of spade-shaped plugs, preferring an unequal distribution of sensations, with stronger ones reserved for the exit, rather than the uniform experience of balls. At 62 mm of diameter and 330 mm of insertable length it is essentially a girthier and longer equivalent of theLarge version , but just saying that doesn't give it justice. Build: ------------------------ Anal Link XL is not quite a bead string, as there is no string, of whatever make, between the beads. It is rather a string in the sense of a series of beads stuck one on top of another. The beads themselves are nearly identical spades, which differ only slightly in diameter. The first spade is the widest at 62 mm. The remaining four are 61, 61, 60, and 61 mm. After the beads comes the 27 mm long stem, which ends in a finger loop. The entire toy is quite soft, and as such offers a very nice and plushy departure from all that rigidity of other toys of that or similar type. The first spade is 76 mm in length. I have several toys that are about that size, top to bottom, and this is just the first element! The other spades have the tips merged into the predecessor, and thus are shorter, ranging from 55 to 58 mm. Therefore, due to the size of individual spade components, the insertion experience is akin to having several upper-medium-sized plugs inserted one after another. This is one massive toy, and should not be underestimated. Medieval is the word. Entry: ------------------------ I have already captured all five spades ofAnal Link Large , its smaller cousin. Bold thus I was when I approached this one. Having warmed up with several tools from my standard toolbox in order to capture the 60-62 mm spades of this toy easily, I proceeded with insertion. And boy, was I surprised. Ha! I forgot all about the length in the excitement of testing my new plaything. Girth per se wasn't an issue, and the first 62 mm spade popped in without any negotiation. And then I proceeded with its successor. Uh, by the time it slipped it, I was full. But how can that be? After all, I captured four out of five of the Large version's spades without blinking, and only the fifth made me pause. Here though, two were enough. I had to bail out. Capture: ------------------------ The next time I tried, I was better prepared. Having inserted the Large version fully, I took it out and switched to the XL mammoth. In went the first spade, in went the second, and I was again at a barrier. With some difficulty, I captured the third spade, and that was it. I know my body well enough to realize when my sigmoid colon is being penetrated. As soon as I started to push the third spade in, the first invaded the intestine. Three spades of this toy bring one to a full 200 mm of insertable length. I can penetrate the colon, but only with a soft, segmented toy such as this, and not too far, either. Three will have to be enough. Hygiene and Exit: ------------------------ There is something more about this toy -- something everyone should be aware of, if they want to play: hygiene. A douche is enough for plugs, probes, dildos, and such. Any tool that penetrates the sigmoid colon will cause an involuntary bowel movement. What that means is that a deep enema is needed if there are to be no side effects of the unflavorous kind. I'm not into deep enemas, and have no intention of performing them, ever. All spades but the first that went in can be extracted without issues, as unless more than three spades were inserted, only the first will be affected, or possibly the tip of the second, too. Therefore, I recommend extracting the toy over the john, so that the mess that follows falls where it should. That also means that the toy has to be scrubbed and cleaned more thoroughly than usual, preferably with a skin-safe dish cleaning detergent, and then doused liberally with boiling water (though not boiled as such). Also, a douche is good to have after the play is done, before the final shower. Yes, this toy is best used as the very *last* during a backdoor session. The effects of widening up deep will not disappear all too fast, and another session can be had later the same day. The sigmoid colon is very delicate, so proper care is needed during both insertion and extraction. Those who do not mind the signals their body sends whenever something is not right *will* be penalized. Usage of any sort of desensitizing agent is *never* recommended for anal play, and especially endangers the health of users in the case of toys like Anal Link XL. Be careful, stay safe.