I always had the headcanon that since the Starlights were able to damage her that it was kind of an Inners vs Outers type of thing where the Outers are just stronger by default. We never really got to see the Outers and Starlights fight each other (like it was building up to seem like) so we'll never know if they're stronger or not. But that's what I figured this moment was telling us.
I don’t even know that I see it as a power thing, given the surrounding context. Galaxia’s whole thing in the episode leading up to that moment wasn’t about Pop Sensation not being powerful enough, it was always about them running away, with a side idea of Senshi always turning on or abandoning each other.
Now I’d take that “always” to be Galaxia’s viewpoint of things rather than indisputable fact, kind of like how something happens to us once or twice and suddenly it ALWAYS HAPPENS. She fucking loves that shit and, at least in the way I’m crafting her backstory, it feeds her personal narrative, so of course that’s how she’s going to choose to see it.
Still, the point being that Galaxia’s brought it up repeatedly in these final episodes, including several times in this one. I think then it has to be seen as a key part of their success and her surprise. They don’t run, and they work together. Those are precisely the two things Galaxia’s been saying Senshi DO NOT EVER DO.
Even if it was power alone, I just can’t accept that Pop Sensation are exponentially THAT much more powerful than literally every other Senshi who ever was. I personally don’t think they’re even that much more powerful than our girls, if at all. There’s actually been less to suggest it than even previous seasons of Sailor Moon, as in the Inner/Outer thing. Because we have the healing element for Usagi, none of our Senshi ever actually and directly tackle a Victim/Monster of the Week with the intent to destroy it. We know Pop Sensation (per their claims) can and have killed the Phages, but have no standard for comparison to know how actually difficult that is. (Not that it should be precisely the same from planet to planet anyway, BUT NOW WE’RE GETTING INTO MY AGGRAVATIONS BEYOND THIS TOPIC.)
I mean obviously whatever you like and works for you is what you should go with. For me, there’s just no resolving this that doesn’t, in my opinion, give far more to Pop Sensation than they are due, particularly at the expense of so very, very many, including the characters I love whose show I’m actually watching.
