A seemingly abandoned Spyro the Dragon statue, once used as a flagship prop at the E3 2000 gaming conference in the promotion of Spyro: Year of the Dragon, has been recovered from a dilapidated warehouse in Saint Helens, Oregon.
The discovery of the statue recently went viral on Instagram and TikTok (via Reddit), after user im_layne_staley posted a video of themselves walking along a dirt track and peering into a warehouse, where the statue was standing amongst various junk.
Spyro the Dragon statue found – quick links
Recovering the Spyro the Dragon E3 2000 statue
X user MomokaRage stumbled across the original video online, and as a native to Oregon, decided to track down the location of the statue and see whether restoration was possible.
‘My boyfriend showed me this Instagram reel of a Spyro the Dragon statue. The sad part? It’s sitting in an abandoned building,’ they wrote of the journey on X.
‘The cool part? It was only 45 minutes away from us! I rewatched the reel a million times and tried to message the creator for details, but they gatekept the location. So, I took matters into my own hands and spent hours tracking it down.’
Users on Reddit pointed out the statue’s origins as a piece of booth merchandise for E3 2000, highlighting its place in gaming history.
Through research and the help of other Redditors, MomokaRage discovered the statue moved from E3 to the Arc Arcade in Astoria, Oregon at some point, likely purchased by the owners. It’s believed the statue wound up in the warehouse after this arcade shuttered in 2018, leading to its presumed ‘abandoned’ status.
Following the clues, MomokaRage was eventually able to track down the exact warehouse and get in touch with the property owner, who was reportedly aware of the statue but unsure of its provenance – he referred to it as a giant lizard, and said it was simply there when he purchased the building in 2021, and he didn’t know what to do with it.
The good news is he was willing to part with it, and MomokaRage was able to collect him with the help of a truck and flatbed trailer.
While the wings of the statue appeared missing in the initial posts, they were also found in the warehouse and MomokaRage was able to restore them in Spyro’s new temporary storage home.
As outlined, there are plans to fully restore the statue to its original form, likely with a new paint job and fixes for any minor defects – but based on images revealed, it appears there’s only minimal damage overall.
For a 26-year-old statue, the piece is looking very well-kept, with any significant wear and tear likely only the result of its recent warehouse storage.
Spyro the Dragon isn’t the only abandoned video game prop
MomokaRage’s story brings to mind many others in the world of video game props.
In the era of E3, when physical gaming conferences were more popular and much grander, ample funds were spent on cool booths, unique props, statues and other promotional items. The aim was to look flashier and more important than your nearest rivals, with booths being eye candy for visitors.
Over the years, a number of E3-exclusive props and statues were developed, with many naturally ending up in storage somewhere – although usually better kept than this Spyro the Dragon relic.
Here in Australia, we had our own version of the Spyro story in 2019, when IGN reporter Lucy O’Brien and gaming fan Brian Costelloe went on a quest to save flaking statues of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sally previously found at Sega World in Sydney.
As this story outlined, these relics of Sega World were discovered in a junkyard outside of Blacktown in Sydney, alongside other props and memorabilia, including standees from the now-defunct theme park, Wonderland Sydney.
These statues tend to be big, and they require storage. It’s what typically leads to their dumping in large warehouses, junkyards and fields – usually still on private property.
The stories of Sonic, Sally and Spyro are not unique. Video games history is just out there in the world, waiting to be discovered. Usually, the process of obtaining such relics is more complex, with owners typically less willing to give away items on their property – but at least in the case of Spyro, it does appear a happy ending has been found.
