The Hammer is the most blessed of all the Builder's works:
'Tis both a tool for construction, and a weapon against thy foes.
So, here we are. Finally, you can find out just how Mr. HHH/ErikZ lives his life and runs his site at the end of the post... and the exciting news is, there is an upcoming interview with Bambi Blaze of Expansion Mansion fame - exciting, eh? Yup, let's not forget about Sutibaru either. I'll try not to get my hopes up but if you'd like to submit any questions, go ahead.
Item One: A buff Wonder Woman.
Item Two: Wonder Woman vs. Supergirl.
Item Three: Buff Hawkgirl - coloured.
Item Four: She-Hulk looking excited.
Item Five: Here's a site for you - FEM-POWER... that should give you the idea. Mainly powerful women rendered in Poser.
Item Six: Lovely Powergirl in colour.
Item Seven: Jebediah delivers several FMG style digital paintings.
Item Eight: Found this one "Super Girl Power" fair bit of superheroine stuff there. So suits and powers and stuff.
Item Nine: If you haven't checked up on Great Dragon recently, it's about time you did for your fill of big and growing boobs.
Item Ten: Electric Sports Bra... the boobs are lovely. Check it out.
Item Eleven: BE of Yuffie and Lightfoot is nowhere to be seen. If you go through it, you'll find an animate GIF of her breasts growing further on.
Item Twelve: Teknoman finds this GTS - right at the end.
Item Thirteen: If you're aware of the catgirl Felicia of Darkstalkers, you'll like this. If you don' know who she is... well, she's a catgirl and herein lie many pictures of her looking quite sexy. She's anime style and not anthropomorphic.
Item Fourteen: Some AR/AP stuff found by Sutibaru.
Item Fifteen: Eh, another BE game thread or something.
Item Sixteen: Another blog with its fair share of ample bosoms.
Item Seventeen: I know some go KRAZY for foot growth stuff. So here's an animation.
Item Eighteen: A suitably FMG worthy demoness.
Item Nineteen: She-Hulk vs. Titania.
Item Twenty: BE sequence.
Item Twenty One: Brief BE in a Japanese ad. Right at the end, includes some clothes ripping.
Item Twenty Two: Two animated BE sequences.
Item Twenty Three: A BE picture of some girl called Maddy from Megaman.
Here is my interview with Erik - enjoy.
Prophet Tenebrae: Today we’ve got ErikZ aka Mr. HHH with us of The Overflowing Bra/Forum fame. So, Erik - since you started it, The Overflowing Bra has become THE site for BE stories. Why'd you start it up?
ErikZ: At the time I decided to do it, there was only one site for BE stories. And it was run by MarkT at the BEA. People would send in their work, and he would format them and post. Well, over time, the updates were coming later and later. 6 months would pass with no new stories being posted and everyone was complaining.
PT: Yeah, I remember the bad old days...
E: I was on IRC talking to someone who was very negative, always complaining. That really bugged me. This time he was talking about the lack of stories and I found myself agreeing with everything he said. At that point I realized that if I just sat back and bitched about it, I'd end up like him. So I bought a book on PHP, sketched out the design of the site (3 whole pages) and made it.
PT: That negative person wasn't me was it?
E: Nah. :-)
PT: Heh, just checking. So you started up TOB to make up for MarkT's disappearance from the scene. I think we're all pretty glad you did.
E: I like the way it all turned out. The site has been continuously improving since I made it.
PT: Oh, certainly. I think it's definitely improved from its original functionality. Is there anything else we can expect from TOB?
E: Normally I try to do something special every year. This year when I was asking around for ideas, It was unanimous: Update the look of the site. It really hasn't changed much in the 5 years its been running. I changed the color of the library pages and made the font on the front page a bit more 3d-ish. So I'm re-writing all the pages to a more modern CSS and changing the look. The forum should get an update within the month or two also.
PT: What do you think of the notion that TOB is something of a refuge for people who aren't comfortable or wanted at the BEA?
E: You mean the forum? Well it works out that way. Mostly it was meant for the writers to hang out at. But there are so many other little projects floating around that it's collected all types of people. Plus, I run it with a less authoritarian attitude, Makes it more homey.
PT: That's true enough. The atmosphere of the BEA and TOF is certainly different. How about the TOB cover girl - how did that tradition get started?
E: I like pictures of women with vast bosoms. :-) Originally when I was designing the site, it had to fit into the cheapest hosting account I could find. So I had to cut down on the graphics and junk. I figured I'd have one good picture on the front to make up for it. I think GammaRai was the first artist actually... After a few months I'd get tired of looking at the picture and scrounge around for something new. If I was lucky, I'd beg a fresh picture off an artist. Once I got the banners up and some money coming in, I was able to make things really nice. Now I aim for a new non-anime picture every month and paying a BE artist to do it. I found this amusing... It seems that many people didn't realize you could click on the picture to get a larger picture. I would crop the hell out of the covergirl and it didn't even cross some people's minds that they should click on it. Of course, some people just skip the front page and go right to the "Last 10" page every time.
PT: Of course, TOB isn't just the stories and covergirl. You've got the forum - which we've already mentioned. So tell us a little bit about the other things you've got going on.
E: LOL. Well, there's the Wiki. It's supposed to be a resource for all the BE people. If there's a photoshop technique you keep on explaining to people, you can put it up on the page and point people at it. Goes for any kind of information you think would be valuable. I'm going to have to schedule some time in the future where I can just sit down and work on adding stuff to it. We just had a whole section on plastic surgery added.
The other thing is the MUSH
PT: Let's not forget the essential BE story page on Wiki, Erik… tell us a bit about the MUSH.
E: The MUSH came about when I was hanging out in IRC, bored out of my mind. Unless you get there at the right time, what you'll usually find is a room full of people who aren't at their keyboards.
PT: I think it goes without saying that the BE Loft has been in a state of decline for some time...
E: I'd say the Loft has been in a steady state.
PT: Dead IS a pretty steady state.
E: LOL! I remembered playing with text-based virtual realities in college. Even if there was nobody on, you could sit down and create things. if there's someone on and nothing to talk about, you could add a game. And then there's role-playing, which the MUSH excels at like nothing else.
So I went ahead and found the software and installed it. I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into. When you create a MUSH from a blank slate, you're in a room. There's nothing else. So after a few weeks I managed to snag myself some good programmers to help build it up.
E: Now it's this huge sprawling complex. I've turned the whole thing over to the programmers who have already spent so much time working on it. TOB is primarily the sponsor now.
PT: Just how popular is the MUSH?
E: It's hard to tell. Most MUSHes are games and can have quite a few people playing. If you were to compare it to the IRC channel, I'd say it's more popular. With around 10 active people connected and active during it's peak times. Every once in a while they hold group events too.
PT: Oh, I'm sure I've regularly seen mid teens everytime I'll looked in.
E: I try to be conservative with my estimate. I hate it when someone shows up at an odd hour and wonders where all the people are.
PT: I think a lot of people are somewhat intimidate by the MUSH... in that it seems a little complicated to an outsider. Can you assuage the worries of the noobs?
E: I think the problem is that people have gotten used to more graphic environments like you see with MMORPGs. When you're dealing with all text, you'll have to sit down, read and think. I made a cheat sheet to help people out, but it still takes practice.
PT: I think the success of Second Life has shown that sex online is getting beyond just text.
E: Well, the problem with Second Life is that you have to be a programmer if you want to do anything interesting with it. Otherwise you're stuck with everyone else's macros and creations. A programmer and an artist.
PT: True enough.
E: You can get far more dramatic effects with a MUSH, and it's easy to play along with someone else.
PT: I think the MUSH is something someone has to stick with to get something out of. Not quite a source of instant gratification but then, not much harder to operate than IRC at a simple user level.
E: To learn the basic commands of talking and moving around shouldn't take you longer than a minute to learn.
PT: That's probably true but I think some people are intimidated by having to download new software but let's move on. Perhaps the apex of your story fostering is the TOB story contest.
E: Really?
PT: I'd say so. How'd the story contest get going?
E: Cool. "Apex" just sounds impressive. I was thinking that having a contest would be a great way to get some to sit down and really polish up their work. Also, I figure there are a lot of adult fiction writers out there that could write BE stories, but have no interest in doing so. But they might be lured with a prize! The problem was, I didn't have anything to use as a prize. After the banners went up, I had enough income to create cash prizes.
This year is really only the second year we've been doing it. I have no problems doing this every year though!
PT: I think it certainly serves as an incentive. I take it from your reaction that you are happy with the response?
E: I'm mixed. I love having the contest and rewarding the authors, but after I announce it, people stop submitting their stories to the library and work on their contest entries.
PT: I think that's somewhat inevitable. Why do for free, something for which you can get paid, eh?
E: Some of the authors don't seem to mind either way, but I can see where most would rather have money. :-)
PT: I suppose the question on potential authors' minds - where can they find out about the rules and rewards for this contest?
E: I put up my answers on the Q&A page for the contest: http://www.overflowingbra.com/contest.htm
But you can email me or post in the forum anytime.
PT: How about some tips for the potential entrants? What makes a good story in your mind?
E: For a good BE story, conflict is key. It grabs the reader's attention and makes the story easy to plot out.
PT: And the growth?
E: If you find yourself wondering how little growth you can get away with and technically call it a BE story, then you probably won't win. Same thing with bundling BE with other types of transformations. All the standard ways of keeping a readers interest also work when you add BE to the story. Oh, and learn your bra sizes if you're going to use them.
PT: I don't think anyone really knows how bra sizes work... mainly because that would imply there was some kind of logic behind them.
E: I think women would avoid the logical bra. Sounds pointy or cubic.
PT: Some boobs are pointy. Just look at the 50s.
How about the ladies… have you ever told a girl you were dating about your love of BE and if so, how’d she react?
E: Not really. They already don't react well to very busty girls on the desktop. Plus, I don't get a whole lot of GFs. I need to get out more.
PT: On a related note… Are you worried about people in real life finding out that you run a porn site?
E: Sort of. The vast majority of people don't have the skill, time or reason to try and figure that out. However, I won't be running for public office in my lifetime because of that.
PT: Were you planning on running for public office?
E: It was either that or taking control by force. All I need are enough minions.
PT: Any hilarious stories about TOF to tell?
E: This one time, at band camp... I suppose the one time someone tried to upload a windows hacking script was mildly amusing. I suppose it's a lot like a library in real life. Not a lot of adventure happens there either.
PT: In closing - anything you'd like to add Erik? Any shout outs, pillars of the community or general helpers out that you'd care to mention?
E: Geez. There are too many people. Everyone who pitches in and helps or writes or creates. Those are the people that make the site live!
PT: Erik, it's been a real pleasure - keep up the good work and thank you.Questions for Bambi Blaze and Sutibaru - as well as links to suitable material or financial contributions - are welcome. Just over a week left for Erik's contest, tick tock.
End Transmission.
