Rumor around the toy scene is that resin is the new vinyl. The economy plays a big part in this trend. Vinyl is expensive and often involves overseas manufacturing, while resin artists make the toys themselves. With lower costs passed on to collectors, we are again seeing a vibrant global community of art toy creators and fans. This weekend Red Hot Robot in Phoenix will host the first Resin Collective group toy show. The roster of artists is amazing and includes (among many, many more): Cris Rose (UK), Das Mo (Germany), Emilio Garcia (Spain), Itokin Park (Japan), Suckadelic (USA), Tan-Ki (France) and WeKillYou (Canada). Each artist has been sending out sneak previews leading up to Saturday’s opening, and one of my favorites so far is this crew by Pacific Northwest artist, Arbito. You may recognize the psychedelic designs of Arbito from his collaboration with Nike and Danny Kass.