References in MY Pony Toys? Ghostbusters, Queen & More

[WingsOfMasquerade]

After spotting another reference the other day...
It got me wondering exactly how many pop culture references made it into actual merchandise. Stuff that's obvious like in the show with the Big Lebowski* / The Dude and Dr. Who is all easy to do but working something into actual merch is a lot harder. Then, once it's in, it's got to get spotted.

Dr. Who = Dr. Whooves toys
Strike Up the Band Ponywear (I think) is literally Queen Freddy Mercury's outfit from one of their concerts. It's yellow & pretty unmistakable.
Blindbag Pony Janine Manewitz is Ghostbusters Janine Melwitz - she even has the 'outrageous' tacky glasses the character had in the cartoon
Coco Pom El = Coco Chanel (So that's why she's always just Miss Pommel when it's written)

What else has anyone spotted?
After seeing the Queen thing, and then opening the Janine blindbag it started me thinking that there could be more, especially hidden in among the blind bag characters who already have pun names & nonsense. Like Royal Pin is off of Royal Pain in the ___ , Neigh Sayer, Upper East Stride. But those are just puns, not references.

*Wasn't that Lebowski kind of a rude movie? I never saw it but thought it was super odd to have such a forceful placement of it's characters doing movie things into the show.

[LadyMoondancer]

Oh wow, I did not realize there was a Janine blindbag!  She was awesome in the old Real Ghostbusters cartoon.

True story:  back in the day she had a dry, sarcastic wit in the cartoon, but then the studio forced the writers to make her more "motherly" and to get rid of her sharp glasses because "they might scare children".  LOL!

I am pretty sure you're right about Strike Up the Band!  Long live Freddie Mercury!

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Like, right down to the line down the side!

[Carrehz]

Oh THAT'S what Janine was referencing! I knew the name sounded familiar but it just didn't click. Haha, that's cool.

*Wasn't that Lebowski kind of a rude movie? I never saw it but thought it was super odd to have such a forceful placement of it's characters doing movie things into the show.

Eh, it's not the first time there's been a reference to something inappropriate (or inappropriate for the target audience, at least) in a children's show and it won't be the last.

[LadyMoondancer]

Yeah, I remember a G1 episode where Scheherazade taught the ponies (the BABY ponies no less!) the Dance of the Seven Veils.  Which was essentially a sexy stripper dance.

There's also a nude painting hidden very, very subtly in one of the Bright Lights episodes.

[Taffeta]

Yeah, I remember a G1 episode where Scheherazade taught the ponies (the BABY ponies no less!) the Dance of the Seven Veils.  Which was essentially a sexy stripper dance.

Lets not forget the Abra-ca-Dabra ponywear is basically on the same theme...

I think nudity in art is often ignored for being art, but putting it in a kids TV show is a bit...out there.

But then the G1 ponywear ad in the UK makes a nudity joke by having Bow Tie turn up in her 'birthday suit' to a party, so who knows how much is to amuse the grown ups watching with the kids.

The US Flag on the Pony Naut suit is also really specifically flagging the US space program in the middle of the 1980s where there's this big  Cold War thing going on in the background. I don't think that's an accident...I mean, why would ponies have a US flag?

It;s true the Pageant Queen one also has Miss Pony USA or something on it, but that one wasn't sold here...so it kind of doesn't stand out in the same way to me as the Pony Naut suit.

Ponywear is super suspicious when you start to dig into it...

[LadyMoondancer]

If anyone is wondering, the nude painting is tucked away in the house where Zeb and . . . Shadow Guy (can't remember his name) had their headquarters.  IIRC it appears briefly in the background of the chase scene where they're trying to capture Megan, Nightshade, and the ponies.

It's pretty blotchy / abstract so you can't actually see any specific "inappropriate" anatomy, but it is definitely a nude painting (of a human.  Maybe Zeb is the anthro animal equivalent of a furry?)

Edit:  Don't forget about the Sweetness and Lace ponywear.  Which is lingerie.  (Hasbro describes it as "an evening gown", but evening gowns are not usually sheer, lol.)

[Taffeta]

Edit:  Don't forget about the Sweetness and Lace ponywear.  Which is lingerie.  (Hasbro describes it as "an evening gown", but evening gowns are not usually sheer, lol.)

And that it's called CHAMPAGNE and Lace over here I am pretty sure that there's even alcohol illustrated on the UK card...
I had that one as a kid. Clearly my parents were not bothered xD

[LadyMoondancer]

LOL, awesome!

Another US reference on the pageant queen ponywear:

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Very suspicious.

[Carrehz]

Zeb and . . . Shadow Guy (can't remember his name)

Erebus

It's pretty blotchy / abstract so you can't actually see any specific "inappropriate" anatomy, but it is definitely a nude painting (of a human.  Maybe Zeb is the anthro animal equivalent of a furry?)

I'll have to rewatch that ep now.. I've heard about the nude painting before but I always forget to check for it.

[Taffeta]

I thought of another one that has bugged me for a while.

Ice Cream Wars.

Because there were a set of riots/criminal rivalry incidents called that in Glasgow in the early 1980s. And Fudgy's really bad scottish accent makes me seriously wonder.

Not that the real thing was all that amusing & probably better not linked to direct. But that's what it was called. The Glasgow Ice Cream Wars.

[Einhornbaby]

Hehe I love threads like this!

And I have an example :
Hoity Toity is totally based on Karl Lagerfeld I think, a famous german fashion designer!
And Photo Finish must be Anna Wintour !

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlpfanart/images/5/5a/Fashion_Ponies.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110319204815