# Getting a MovieClip Symbol to remove itself AS3

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/getting-a-movieclip-symbol-to-remove-itself-as3/319531>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [February 23, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/getting-a-movieclip-symbol-to-remove-itself-as3/319531 "2011-02-23T23:21:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NateIhle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/fbc32d/32.png) [@NateIhle](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/NateIhle)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/getting-a-movieclip-symbol-to-remove-itself-as3/319531/1 "2011-02-23T23:21:40Z")

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I am currently working on a project where I create explosions on the screen by adding the movieclip symbol explosion to the main timeline via:

addChild(explosion);

I am trying to figure out how to dynamically remove the explosion (make it eligible for garbage collection) when it is done playing the animation of the explosion.

I have tried parent.removeChild(this) within the symbol itself and that throws an error:

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.

Is there any way to have a movieclip remove itself? If not is there a way to call a function in the actionscript code explosion exports to? Or maybe there is a way to call a function in the main timeline? Any help would be much appreciated!!