A long-lost promotional statue of Spyro from E3 2000 has been rescued from an abandoned building in Oregon, giving fans a rare piece of Year of the Dragon history a second life.
The statue, believed to have been constructed for promotion of Spyro: Year of the Dragon — the third entry in Insomniac Games' original PlayStation trilogy released in 2000 — was later displayed at the Arc Arcade in Astoria, Oregon, before that venue closed in 2018.
Community sleuthing led to the recovery.
A Spyro fan who posts as Momoka (MomokaRage on Instagram and X) told the r/Spyro community they had tracked the statue to Saint Helens, Oregon after seeing an Instagram reel and doing follow-up research.
They said the original Instagram poster declined to reveal the precise location, so they conducted their own inquiries to confirm the address and arrange pickup.
In their Reddit post, Momoka pledged to “rescue” the statue and follow through on the recovery effort.
Momoka provided a status update describing the statue’s condition: Spyro’s eyes were broken but appear to be clear plastic and likely repairable, while the wings may need replacement.
They reported arranging with the property's current owner to collect the statue on Monday, May 18, 2026.
Momoka described the owner as an older man in his 80s who had purchased the building in 2021 and had not known the statue was there; when asked, he remembered “that purple lizard thing” being inside when he bought the property.
The owner agreed to let Momoka remove the statue as a favor.
On pickup day, Momoka confirmed they had successfully collected the fibreglass figure and moved it to a friend’s storage unit for initial repairs.
Their plan is to fix the eyes, attempt to replace the wings, and eventually display the restored statue at local gaming conventions.
The find highlights how physical pieces of gaming history — promotional props, showfloor displays from events like E3 2000 — can disappear into private hands and abandoned sites.
Spyro’s legacy has continued through official releases and remasters: Insomniac Games developed the original trilogy for PlayStation, and Toys for Bob produced the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which later shipped to platforms including Nintendo Switch.
For fans and preservationists, recoveries like this one offer a tangible link to the franchise’s early public moments and to the era when showfloor statues were a central part of game promotion.
The statue, believed to have been constructed for promotion of Spyro: Year of the Dragon — the third entry in Insomniac Games' original PlayStation trilogy released in 2000 — was later displayed at the Arc Arcade in Astoria, Oregon, before that venue closed in 2018.
Community sleuthing led to the recovery.
A Spyro fan who posts as Momoka (MomokaRage on Instagram and X) told the r/Spyro community they had tracked the statue to Saint Helens, Oregon after seeing an Instagram reel and doing follow-up research.
They said the original Instagram poster declined to reveal the precise location, so they conducted their own inquiries to confirm the address and arrange pickup.
In their Reddit post, Momoka pledged to “rescue” the statue and follow through on the recovery effort.
Momoka provided a status update describing the statue’s condition: Spyro’s eyes were broken but appear to be clear plastic and likely repairable, while the wings may need replacement.
They reported arranging with the property's current owner to collect the statue on Monday, May 18, 2026.
Momoka described the owner as an older man in his 80s who had purchased the building in 2021 and had not known the statue was there; when asked, he remembered “that purple lizard thing” being inside when he bought the property.
The owner agreed to let Momoka remove the statue as a favor.
On pickup day, Momoka confirmed they had successfully collected the fibreglass figure and moved it to a friend’s storage unit for initial repairs.
Their plan is to fix the eyes, attempt to replace the wings, and eventually display the restored statue at local gaming conventions.
The find highlights how physical pieces of gaming history — promotional props, showfloor displays from events like E3 2000 — can disappear into private hands and abandoned sites.
Spyro’s legacy has continued through official releases and remasters: Insomniac Games developed the original trilogy for PlayStation, and Toys for Bob produced the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which later shipped to platforms including Nintendo Switch.
For fans and preservationists, recoveries like this one offer a tangible link to the franchise’s early public moments and to the era when showfloor statues were a central part of game promotion.
