theo van gogh was the one who suggested that his older brother vincent start seriously painting. as soon as theo was gainfully employed he gave vincent around 15% of his own yearly salary for art supplies, lodging, and food. about 2/3rds of vincent's surviving letters were to theo (including vincent's earliest and last letters), all of which were found stored in theo's desk. theo's child, vincent willem, was born on january 31st, 1890, and vincent was so delighted by his nephew that he painted almond blossoms for him. vincent shot himself half a year later on july 29th, 1890. theo's distress at his brother's death worsened his syphilis symptoms and he died half a year after his brother on january 25th, 1891 (four days before vincent willem's first birthday). theo was reburied next to vincent in auvers-sur-oise at the request of theo's wife johanna.
And that love lived on Theo's wife, Johanna, who was the one who pushed for the preservation of Vincent's paintings. Johanna who made sure that her husband's beloved brother would not be forgotten. Johanna who fought tooth and nail so that Theo and Vincent would never be forgotten. Johanna who carried the family legacy, who made sure that the works of Vincent would be kept in her possession. And then Vincent Willem, named for a uncle so loved, carried this legacy and founded the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.
The van Gogh family history is deeply interwoven with love. It was the love of a brother that gave a young man the courage to paint and the resources to do so. It was the love of a woman for her husband and her husband's beloved brother that made that story known. And it was the love of a nephew, who was so deeply loved even if for such a short time, that made it possible for the world to know Vincent van Gogh.
✧ Broken ribs suck. You don’t just “walk it off.” Breathing hurts. Laughing hurts. Existing hurts. Characters with rib injuries won’t be doing heroic sprints.
✧ Concussions aren’t instant naps. Dazed vision, nausea, dizziness, maybe even personality changes, but they’re not going to collapse neatly like in the movies.
✧ Blood loss is sneaky. It’s not just about dramatic pools of blood. It’s dizziness, confusion, and the body getting cold as circulation tanks.
✧ Adrenaline lies. Someone can take a serious injury and not feel it until the fight’s over. That “I didn’t realize I was bleeding until later” trope? Very real.
✧ Twisted ankles are brutal. One bad step and suddenly running is off the table. Even walking hurts like hell. Perfect way to ground a chase scene.
✧ Burns linger. Even small burns hurt more than most people expect. Blisters, infection risk, constant pain, it’s not just a cool scar later.
✧ Dislocated shoulders = useless arm. Characters can’t keep swinging a sword or firing a gun. They’re basically fighting one-armed until it’s fixed.
✧ Shock is a thing. Pale skin, trembling, rapid heartbeat, and eventually disorientation. A character might not even realize how bad their wound is.
✧ Stitches aren’t magic. Getting sewn up is painful and recovery takes time. They’re not instantly battle-ready after a needle and thread.
✧ Scars tell stories. Some fade, some don’t. Some stay sensitive forever. Don’t forget the aftermath when the wound becomes part of the character.
Trap Master can only be flipped during your turn or by the effect of another card. Since no card has been activated to trigger such an effect, Trap Master cannot be activated in response to Trap Stun.
some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.
Fashion Breakdown: How the Foundation uniforms achieves the Basic Elements of Design
From checkered patterns to gold emblems, the St. Pavlov Foundation has established itself as a hallmark of the humanitarian efforts to create peace between humans and arcanists in the modern world. From there, they've made the effort to present themselves based on their idea of peace and order—that includes their uniforms.
They are organized, clean, and very recognizable among readers and the characters. What I want to explore here is how Reverse: 1999 achieve this such a remarkable design through identifying how the basic elements of fashion design are applied in their uniforms.
This is a sequel to my analysis from nearly two years ago, where I explored the uniform itself and identified the customs and roles that the Foundation staff serve. This post will serve the purpose of breaking down the uniforms and how the basic elements are identified and applied. Let's get started.
Design Elements, Main Objectives
Design has four basic elements: Colour, Line, Shape, and Texture. In fashion, these elements are considered when creating clothes to communicate a "look" or message that they want to convey to the viewer.
For the Foundation, they have three objectives to represent in their uniform: Order, Balance, and Unity. We'll go through each element and how it achieves these objectives here.
Keep in mind that the Foundation is also heavily chess-themed, which will play a major role in the design choices of the uniforms. (This will be expanded later in regards to shapes)
Colour
The Foundation follows a monochrome palette, using black, white, and gray. Additionally, they use gold as a secondary color—a highlight.
It's a simple approach, the palette easily showcases balance, strength, power, and order. Gold adds a layer of prestige, and amplifies the themes of power.
Some characters that hold more significant roles (whether in story or in the organization), they'll use colors such as red, brown (i.e. the coats), green, and blue; they're often muted but noticeable. They hold some degree of symbolism too, but they're more personal to the characters themselves.
Line
Most if not all of the Foundation staff's uniforms are tailored to be straight. Straight linings, vertical lines, long jackets, etc. Sharp edges are also commonly seen, which make a more rigid but clean look.
All of these combined communicate order, strength, and resolve. The vertical lines also places emphasis on height, making the wearers seem taller and slimmer.
With these lines they also create pleats and crisscrosses. While pleats—found in masks and women's uniforms—are for sophistication, crisscrosses are found in laces. According to Ms. Moissan's description for her shoes, they indicate obedience.
Let's compare this to the SPDM uniforms. They primarily focus on using curved lines to present the students' soft innocence and youth.
Though, the lines are more highlighted in their undershirts as well as sharp cuffs in their sleeves and collars. They look more like angels or fledglings in that sense.
Shape
The uniforms uses geometric elements, primarily using squares, rectangles, and triangles. Squares and rectangles will represent strength and balance, and triangles addresses a hierarchy of power.
All of the characters' silhouettes will look imposing, stable, reliant, and strong. Razor here is a primary example. They can also express symmetry, but mainly with NPCs like Bernard and Pedra.
The brooch of the Foundation additionally possesses these 3 shapes. Despite it being difficult to discern what it exactly is, it's still recognizable.
Furthermore, the Foundation has two distinctive symbols that are integrated into their design, which are the checkered pattern and the stars. You'll see them on every Foundation member.
These two things are the trademark of the Foundation. It highlights themes of duality and guidance, so it can be said that the Foundation wants to serve to the people. It's similar to what I said two years prior, "The Foundation prides itself of being the beacon of balance between humans and arcanists."
This checkered pattern is also commonly associated with chess, and it's not the only feature that indicates it either. The Foundation uniforms tend to apply certain clothing choices that push that theme—from capes, pointed masks and round helmets, bishop sleeves, and even the occasional crown prints on collars. Overall, this chess theme easily captures the overall idea of the Foundation's system, hierarchy, ethics, and practices. That's where the uniform really sells on the objectives of their uniforms.
Texture
There isn't a lot to say about texture since this is still a digitally illustrated game, but it's still very much present! Given the rendering of the uniforms, they appear as very matte. This allows other accessories or materials to really stand out, such as metallic or polished surfaces (e.g. leather/rubber). The textures here mark down on professionalism and practicality while also ensuring the wearer's comfort, which fits all of the characters' line of work.
Reverse: 1999 mixes realistic painting techniques with the shapes and forms of the "anime" style, creating a semi-realistic art style that doesn't sacrifice its animated aspects (In other words, it doesn't take away the fact that it's still a gacha game lol). This element of design heavily benefits from it, with the art rendering allowing players to really see and feel the textures of the uniforms.
Afterthoughts
These uniforms are honestly an amazing refresher on fashion designs that are marketed in the gacha atmosphere, especially with fashion designs for in-game factions. The Foundation easily settles its uniforms as a very recognizable staple, even if our playable characters from that place wear garments that deviate from the standard. It's simple, straightforward, and realistic.
That's makes the characters feel very grounded; the Foundation staff look like people you would see in a corporate office every day, and that's thanks to their uniforms looking and feeling like actual clothes. This alone achieves the objectives mentioned earlier.
While I'm not a fashion student myself, design comes easy to creatives. There's more that can be said about these designs when you look at them in the lens of character design. I'll have some personal gripes, I'll have some personal favorites from these design choices.
But overall, the Foundation's fashion design does a good job at communicating its purpose through their characters. I hope that this and my earlier analysis can help people who want to analyze the Foundation's overall design or create Foundation-associated OCs.
Thanks for reaching the end here, and I hope you had an enjoyable read from my early morning rants. As always, any and all insights are welcome.
The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.
Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.
So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.
Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.
As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.
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