I think her the outfit she wears, especially in color, is a reference to Moana. It would make sense for their audience to relate it to something they already know, particularly a fairly popular Polynesian inspired character.
However I don't think it's hinting to anything deeper than that - I think they just used visuals that remind us of that movie and Moana as a character. When Disney researches and develops art for a movie based on the Polynesian Islands, the turnout will be similar to The Sims Team's research and art from the same inspiration. Obviously, as each artist and company has their own vision, there will be differences. But I think if you do your own research on Pacific Islanders, you'll find a lot of the same colors, materials, fabrics, relics, symbology, food, rituals, tattoos, traditions, etc.
I understand what you mean, I totally for a second thought that she was going to step into the water and become a stingray or something :lol: When she became a mermaid I was like "duh, this is a Sims trailer, not the actual movie Moana." The devs did encourage us to use the mermaid powers and befriend the dolphins though, so maybe there will be some connection to their powers and the water/ocean life. It would be VERY COOL if mermaids ghosts float around in the water as different sorts of sea creatures though... I'm buying into your theory more and more :wink:
