Philippines demon joins Monster High doll line

Toymaker Mattel has Barbie-fied a creature from Philippine folklore that has for centuries inspired terror and loathing among Filipinos for its habit of feeding on the hearts of unborn children: the manananggal.

- Raul Dancel

Corazon Marikit is the latest to come out of Mattel's Monster High doll line.

In this reimagining of the manananggal, she is a winsome teenager dressed in the traditional Filipino attire of a baro (blouse) and a long skirt that tapers into thin, red fringes that are supposed to emulate dripping blood.

She holds a fan in her right hand and a bag with a spider web motif in her left.

She stands high on a pair of bakya, or wooden clogs.

The obvious signs that she is an otherworldly creature are her large, bat-like wings.

Yet, she has an even more bizarre secret. She can split her body in half from the waist, allowing her upper half to fly away while the rest of her waits on the ground just like what the manananggal is capable of.

This special mechanism makes her unique for doll collectors.