Tag Archives: My Little Pony

Sailor Moon referenced in a recent episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Posted on by
2

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Sailor Moon, Rei Ayanami, Utena, Bulma and Ranma

A recent episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic features a Sailor Moon reference. This is in the episode Scare Master, the 21st episode of season 5, which originally aired on Halloween. In this particular scene Fluttershy is trying to scare her friends, as part of Nightmare Night, failing entirely. One of her attempts shows them five paper cutouts. She explains that they are “Unplanned guests. Your worst nightmare. You don’t have enough fruit for them.” These five cutouts are of popular 90s anime characters, reimagined as ponies. From left to right they are Sailor Moon from Sailor Moon, Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Bulma from Dragon Ball and Ranma from Ranma 1/2. Whoever put together this visual gag must have been into anime around the same time I was in the 1990s!

My Little Pony Sailor Moon Reference - Big McIntosh transforms into Princess Big Mac

This is not the first reference this season. Earlier this year in episode 13, Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, Big McIntosh does a Sailor Moon like transformation. This scene happens in a dream world where anyone can do what they want and apparently Big McIntosh dreams of transforming into a Pretty Guardian. This could be a reference to any sort of Magical Girl anime, but Sailor Moon in the most popular which would make most assume this was the reference. Watch a YouTube clip of the transformation below.

My Little Pony Sailor Moon Reference - Big McIntosh transforms into Princess Big Mac

There are many Sailor Moon references in the My Little Pony show and comic due to much of the creative staff being a fan and the fact that the show is constantly referencing dozens of things an episode. We previously showed the similarity between My Little Pony’s Crystal Empire and Sailor Moon’s Crystal Tokyo as well as Sailor Moon references in the My Little Pony comic. I found that many scenes from the first episodes also resembled Sailor Moon in less overt ways.

My Little Pony Sailor Moon Reference - Big McIntosh transforms into Princess Big Mac

Thanks to LioConvoy for letting me know about the most recent reference. I found the Big McIntosh clip on Moon Chase! while investigating.

Many Sailor Moon references in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic

Posted on by
1

Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic

The latest issue of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro Series comic, issue #8 featuring Princess Celestia on the cover, includes a few familiar faces for Sailor Moon fans! Inside these pages are pony versions of Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune (pictured above), Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon (pictured below) and Sailor Pluto (in the third photo).

Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book

The similar colours and hair styles aren’t the only similarity as these ponies also have very specific cutie marks which are the symbols of their respective planets and in Sailor Chibi Moon’s case a heart with moon in it which is similar but not identical to any single one of her transformation brooches.

Sailor Pluto in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book

In addition to these ponies we can also see the Moon Stick sitting on Princess Celestia’s night stand. The other item could be Sailor Neptune’s Deep Aqua Mirror but I’m unsure if this is an intentional reference or not.

The Deep Aqua Mirror and Moon Stick in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book

This issue’s artist, Amy Mebberson, is a Sailor Moon fan. Check out more of her work, including some Sailor Moon sketches, on her deviantART page, tumblr or Twitter. Also be sure to check out her web comic Pocket Princesses.

Below I’ve included the full panels which include these references for context. The comic hit store shelves this past Wednesday so if you’re interested in picking it up your local comic book store may still have it in stock.

Continue reading →

Is My Little Pony’s Crystal Empire inspired by Sailor Moon’s Crystal Tokyo?

Posted on by
8

Sailor Moon - Chibiusa overlooking Crystal Tokyo - My Little Pony - Arriving at the Crystal Empire

If you’re a fan of My Little Pony be sure to check out our sister site The Ponyville Gazette on which this article was also posted.

This past Saturday was the season premiere of season 3 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The story of this first episode centred around a location called The Crystal Empire. A while back when clips of this episode first appeared online someone made this image suggesting a link. While I certainly believe there are visual similarities there I think that now that the full episode has aired we can look at them objectively and see just what does and doesn’t add up.

Sailor Moon's Crystal Tokyo - My Little Pony's The Crystal Empire

The similarity in the image above is hard to ignore. These are both cities made of crystal with one large tower in the middle. The Crystal Empire has a road formation made of stars. Crystal Tokyo does not but from this angle we see a diagonal road leading to the tower which makes the two cities seem similar. The structure of the two cities is somewhat similar with the way other buildings are spread out with some grassy areas, but this is not atypical of any city. It should be noted that a view of Crystal Tokyo during the day is somewhat rare. More often than not we saw Crystal Tokyo during a perpetual night as it was all but completely destroyed and occupied by the Black Moon Clan.

Continue reading →