Site takes heroic stance on cleavage
By Leslie Miller, USA TODAY
In the fantasy world of cartoon superheroines, Jeff Hebert knows that sex sells.But when he created an online "HeroMachine" that generates made-to-order characters, complete with customized costumes and fighting gear, there's one accessory he didn't count on users asking for: more cleavage.
"Exaggeration is part of the genre, but it's always bugged me," says Hebert, 31, of Georgetown, Texas. "You're supposed to be this athletic figure; how would you do all that if you had these breasts flopping around in the wind?"
So, like a true superhero, Hebert, a former tech support guy for the likes of Dell and 3M, just said no. "I'm not going to have 'Superboobs' here — it's just a personal point of honor."
The request has been the subject of debate on an e-mail list about HeroMachine, where some female fans have facetiously suggested that male characters get codpieces.
Hebert has been working on HeroMachine full time since fall; his wife, an entrepreneur and "active feminist," encouraged him to take some time off for the project after Hebert's dad died last year, leaving him enough money to live on for six or seven months.
The software is still in development but is already popular among kids and devotees of text-based role-playing games, who like to print out pictures of their characters. It's free to users; Hebert hopes to eventually license it to game and movie companies such as Fox, which could entice surfers by letting them make their own X-Men-type mutants, Hebert suggests.