Lore and myth, indigenous tales speak of creatures in everyday life. Hiding within shadows of leaves, in jungles, some benevolent, others....not quite. An Enamel Pin collection celebrating Tokii's Philippine heritage, showing off creatures, and monsters.
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🌑 Storyline Post - Part Three - The Anggitay and the Tikbalang🌕
Hello Backerkit!
We hope you're ready for the next installment to the Filipino Folklore Storyline and for more pins and mini pins to be revealed! I will be frank and say that this leg of the story is perhaps one of the hardest to read so far, but Tokii's given me her two cents on it and thinks you'll all be hooked for sure!
Like last time, I've updated the trigger warning to reflect the content covered in this part. If the warnings make you uneasy but you'd still like to see the new pin reveals at the bottom, then there is a second matching red block to give you a visual landmark of when the story has ended!
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About the Legends
The Anggitay's Mythology: The Anggitay from Tagalog and Batangueño folklore are often said to be the female counterpart to the infamous Tikbalang and serve a purpose of antithesis comparatively, but more on that soon. Anggitay are the Filipino equivalent to the Greek centaur, having the top half of a beautiful woman with the bottom half from the waist down being that of a horse, the most notable difference being that they are often times depicted as having a single horn on their foreheads similar to a unicorn. They are said to be most often found during sunny days deep within the jungle, seated at a tree, wearing clothes in similar style to the Filipino people, and whereas a Tikbalang is known for it’s malevolence; the Anggitay is said to have a calming aura, will help lost travelers through the jungle, and is drawn to precious metals and stones like gold, silver, gems and jewels.
Our Anggitay Pin: The Anggitay will be a two inch pin with hard enamel colors and gold plated metal line art. It will have two prongs and use UV printing for it's gradients as well as recessed metal accents for it's horn and hooves.
The Tikabalng's Mythology: The Tikbalang is fromfolklore all over the Philippines and is an infamous and old legend. So old in fact that is has a few pieces of documentation from before the Spaniards arrived when it looked more goat-ish or like a water buffalo. Though with the Spanish introduction of horses to the islands, and the often dire scenarios that came with it, the legend has been molded into the description that we are familiar with today; A dark-haired man with the long face of a horse, large wild eyes, and limbs disproportionately long to their already massive body. Their legs are said to be so long that when they squat down their knees rise above their ghastly heads. Rarely the Tikbalang is depicted with other features like small horns, giant testicles, and either hooves or clawed feet. Tikbalang are said to be playful or mischievous tricksters, capable of shifting into the visage of an old man, a horse, and back into a monster. They delight in leading travelers astray, doomed to forever walk in circles until the Tikbalang gets bored of you, and while they do not always mean harm they have still maimed, killed, and kidnapped according to many stories.
It’s said that the Tikbalang is often found patrolling its ‘kingdom’ or territory, often centered around a particular tree. Some believe that the Tikbalang themselves are the souls of great and old trees.
A very popular belief is that in the black furred hide of a Tikbalang’s back there are a few (often three) thick and shining gold hairs. Anyone who’s capable of leaping onto the Tikbalang’s back and holding dearly for their lives as the creature attempts with all its strength to buck them off, may be able to pluck out one of these golden hairs, doing this compels the Tikbalang to serve that person until their death. Failure to keep their grasp on the horse man means that they suffer its wrath, often leading them to be killed and eaten.
Our Tikbalang Pin: The Tikbalang will be a two inch pin with hard enamel colors and black nickle plated line art. It will have two prongs and use screen printing for it's patterned coat and golden hairs.
The Wedding Ring Minipin: The wedding ring design is meant to depict either of the rings from our own story, and was designed from patterns we saw while conducting our research for this campaign. More notably we decided this ring should be gold due to the fact that the Philippines was often considered the "Islands of Gold" and is one of the most gold-rich countries in the world. It will be a 1" minipin with gold plated metal line art. It will have a single prong, and use a variety of metal recessing to keep a wonderfully golden shimmer. The Gunong Blade Minipin: The Gunong blade depicts the shorter variant of the much longer Kris Sword which we featured in the Philippines pin for our previous campaign Blades Beasts and Blooms. Where the Gunong differs is that not only is it smaller, but this small size also allows it to be worn more freely making it useful as a tool beyond the longer sword's purpose as a weapon alone. It will be a 1" minipin with hard enamel colors and black nickle plated line art. It will have a single prong, and use screen printing for it's highlights.
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We hope you've enjoyed so far! We're nearly finished with the story and even closer to having shown you all of the pin designs for this campaign! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below :>
Tokii here. So we got some activity mentioning how much people liked our Bakunawa design for our Journal, and thought it would be nice to put a poll up for our returning backer reward. Originally I was planning on releasing some limited gold foiled Bakuna designs as a call back from our Blades, Beasts, and Blooms campaign, but wanted to see if people prefered a brand new design instead.
Gold Foil BBB Bakunawa
New Holographic Bakunawa (promise the quality will be better and the outline will be cutmore properly)
Would love your votes! Thank you again, I'm itching for launch day, a little over a week away!
I spent a bit of time designing a journal especially for this campaign. I thought the Bakunawa would be a beautiful design to try, belly full of the 6 moons it's eaten, as it tries to eat the 7th. Spine has moon phases, and there star motifs, and Filipino national flowers framing the covers. Hidden at the top is a small visage of the Philippine sun as well. Overall I did my best to represent this lore in a easily digestable page that symbolizes the culture as well, so I hope you enjoy it!
Now....I do have a poll, I imagine the book cover to be a textured black vegan leather, but what style of embossing escapes me. Which do you think we should go with?
🌑 Storyline Post - Part Two - The Mumbubuno and the Ibong Adarna 🌕
Hello Backerkit!
We're excited to release the second leg of this four-part story alongside the pin designs to be revealed with it! I was really happy to see that you guys enjoyed the more grim take for a campaign storyline so we'll be continuing in-theme. I've updated the trigger warning to reflect the second part of this story, and if you don't think you'll enjoy the story based off what is warned but still want to see the revealed pin designs, I've kept the same red block at the end of the story as a visual landmark for you to know when the story has ended ;>
Without further ado, here is Filipino Folklore part two!
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About the Legends
The Mambubuno's Mythology: The Mambubuno comes from Zambale folklore and is one of the many different mermaid-like monsters believed to inhabit the Philippines, or more specifically the western side of the central Luzon region. Like most merfolk, Mambubuno are half fish and half human by description, but unlike the usual stories Mambubuno’s lower half is split into two tails as opposed to one, and they are said to have unorthodox powers compared to most similar legends (one of those powers potentially being that the mambubuno is the perfect mascot for a coffee shop). Mambubuno often live on rocky shores with deep underwater caverns nearby, and if you travel to these places you run the risk of becoming the target of a Mambubuno’s obsession. Should they be entranced by you, they will seek out opportunities to wrestle you into the water, submerging you below the waves and allowing you to magically breathe underwater so long as they will it. From there they will take you into their lair to live with them forever.
If you convince the Mambubuno to let you out, it will always be under the pretenses that it is only a temporary visit to the surface world, and if you try to escape then the Mambubuno will try to drown you. Even if you manage to make it back home you will find all your friends and relatives aged, decrepit, or dead… this is because for every day you’ve been kept prisoner in the Mambubuno’s lair, a full year has passed on the surface.
One fun detail is that Mambubuno are sexually dimorphic; they both tend to be covered head to tail in scales, but for the male they are slimy and black, while the females often have vibrant patterns and colors on their scales instead.
Our Mambubuno Pin: The Mambubuno will be a two inch pin with hard enamel colors and black nickle plated metal line art. It will have two prongs and use UV printing for it's colorful scales and shining hair.
The Adarna Bird's Mythology: The Ibong Adarna or Adarna Bird is from a poem by the same name ‘Ibong Adarna’. It’s debated who exactly wrote the original story, but some popular beliefs is that it was either José de la Cruz or Huseng Sisiw. The poem tells the story of an ill king, his three sons, and the Adarna Bird who is believed to possess healing powers with it's magical song. The king sends his sons out one by one to catch the Adarna Bird, but are all lulled to sleep by it's music and turned to stone when the bird subsequently defecates on them. All hope was seemingly lost until the very last son, Don Juan, encountered a wise old hermit who tells him how to complete his task without falling asleep. The story continues on with Don Juan capturing the bird, saving his brothers, as well as his father, but not before he falls victim to the jealousy of his brothers. If you're interested in reading the whole story, which is much too complex for us to get you a short description that does it any justice, you can find the translated poem here: The Ibong Adarna Poem Our Adarna Bird Pin: The Adarna Bird will be a two inch pin with hard enamel colors and black nickle plated line art. It will have two prongs and use UV printing for it's beautiful feathers, alongside stained glass enamel to depict it's song. Another fun detail is that the notes included in the Adarna Bird's song are the first notes in the Philippine Anthem! :>
The Calamansi Minipin: The calamansi design is meant to depict the dayap lemon used by Don Juan to stay awake in the Ibong Adarna poem. It will be a 1" minipin with hard enamel colors and gold plated metal line art. It will have a single prong, use screen printing for details, recessed metal for it's leafage, and stained glass enamel for it's center and juices. The Adarna Feather Minipin: The Adarna feather depicts a feather from the Adarna Bird. We based our rendition of the Adarna Bird after the real life Philippine Trogon! It will be a 1" minipin with hard enamel colors and black nickle plated line art. It will have a single prong, and use UV printing for it's colors and highlights.
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We hope you've enjoyed so far! We're halfway through the story and over halfway done showing you our pin designs! Let us know what you think in the comments below :>
Hi Backerkit, Tokii here! I'm working on all the freebies right now and wanted to know your thoughts on the early bird design. I was thinking of going with the Minokawa(sun eater that causes eclipses) wrapping around the sun, but I wasn't sure which one I should render. I put a poll up, so votes are greatly appreciated!
Both will be a bit painterly since I can get away with that on a sticker only design, I'm imagining the Minokawa to be blues and purples with celestial star accents. If you have other ideas just shout them out in the comments!
🌑 Storyline Post - Part One - The Daligmata and the Agbarbarangay 🌕
Hello Backerkit!
We hope you're excited to kick off the earliest festivities of this project! Today, as well as each upcoming monday before the campaign launches, will be when you can expect storyline posts and design reveals!
However, during my writing of this story it came to my attention that it may be too grim for some viewers to enjoy. It's not as lighthearted as the story for Cryptids and Critters with Robert and Tippy, and it's more personal than the story for Infernal Invasion with the DSEU organization. For that reason I am inclined to include a trigger warning for those of you who may not enjoy the topics covered in the story. With the story directly inspired by Filipino mythology it reflects some of the heavier themes often found in those tales.
If you do not wish to read the story, but still would like to see the pin designs revealed, skip past the text until after you see the last red block below the story - it will be the same size and shape as the trigger warning below;
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About the Legends
The Daligmata's Mythology: The Daligmata comes from Visayan folklore and is sometimes depicted as a humanoid wizard or sorcerer-like being, other times as a nocturnal animal, but in both instances the Daligmata is a creature whose body is covered in many bright shining eyes. It’s thought that this creature most often comes out at night when the boundary between the human and spirit realm is blurred, and that the Daligmata can only be seen by spirit mediums who use a special and otherwise unknown herb that contradicts the Daligmata’s invisibility. With their many eyes the Daligmata is able to see both the human and spirit realms at once. This is why mediums may seek out their presence; when a person's soul has gotten disconnected or lost from their earthly bodies, a Daligmata can oftentimes find it and serve as a guide to escort them back to their mortal vessel. Our Daligmata Pin: The Daligmata will be a two inch pin with hard enamel colors and gold plated metal line art. It will have two prongs and use UV printing for it's glossy black coat, and glow in the dark for it's many shining eyes!
The Agbarbarangays' Mythology: The Agbarbarangay comes from Ilocano folklore and is described as the beautiful spirits of men and women, sailors of the air, that would dock their golden boats with anchors to trees after flying their vessels over nearby towns. Most often they are invisible, but to some animals they are not. Dogs being one of the creatures that can spot the Agbarbarangay. With the guidance of a dog one could find where the ship was docked, and If they were brave enough to climb the tree the Agbarbarangay would allow the stranger to board their ship. Once aboard the Agbarbarangay spirits would tell them the secrets of their world. Oftentimes these secrets would make their voyager into a medium; if you shared what kinds of ailments and illnesses inflicted the town the Agbarbarangay would disclose to you the remedies found in local herbs and roots. After the voyage the other villagers would find the person asleep in the tree by the next day. Our Agbarbarangay Pin: The Agbarbarangay will be a two inch pin with hard enamel colors and gold plated line art. It will have two prongs and use UV printing, transparent enamel, and stained glass enamel for the sailing spirits aboard. Additionally it will also include a chain attached to a small anchor - we'll be reusing the mold we used for the fish hooks in the Special Lure minipin from Cryptids and Critters to cut down on costs and prices! Recycle, Reduce, Reuse!
The Herbal Remedy Minipin: The herbal remedy design is meant to ambiguously depict the herbs mediums use while communing with the Daligmata as well as potentially the herbs an Agbarbarangay may instruct you to seek out for it's medicinal properties. It will be a 1" minipin with hard enamel colors and black nickle plated metal line art. It will have a single prong The Celestial Bodies Minipin: The celestial bodies design depicts the Philippine sun as well as the cycles of the moon. Both of which holding symbolism in cultures throughout the Philippines. It will be a 1" minipin with hard enamel colors and gold plated line art. It will have a single prong, and use a black glittering enamel to represent small stars.
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That's all for now! We hope you've enjoyed the story and the designs revealed so far! Let us know what you think in the comments below :3
When the moon hangs low over the rice fields and the air hums with old magic, the spirits of the kapuluan begin to stir.
From shadowed forests to starlit seas, this enamel pin collection brings beloved Filipino folklore to life...each character inspired by the stories once told in hushed voices, passed down through generations, and carried on the wind. These aren’t just myths… they’re guardians, tricksters, wanderers, and watchers of the night.
Filipino Folklore is an enamel pin campaign celebrating Tokii's Philippine heritage, bringing stories of the islands to life to more main stream media. Monsters, spirits, creatures galore- follow to get periodic updates and be part of the creation process!
