Predictably, like all mergers of giant corporate entertainment entities, the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery has been messy, with devastating consequences for creatives. Earlier this week, HBO Max announced that nearly 40 shows would disappear from their service in a mere two days’ time. The teams behind the shows involved found out the same way we did—over the internet on Tuesday night. Most of these shows were animated series, largely from Cartoon Network, which Warner Bros. snagged in a previous merger, and most of these animated shows aren’t on other services—and even fewer have physical releases on DVD or Blu-Ray.

If taking these shows off of streaming was all that Warner Bros. Discovery did, that would be one thing—devastating, of course, because the shows targeted would be sent into indefinite purgatory. Fans have no way to watch episodes—not on streaming, not on physical media. Maybe they’re still subject to the occasional rerun on Cartoon Network, for the twelve people who still pay for cable, but that’s about it. But Warner Bros. Discovery seems to be doing something even darker: scrubbing shows from existence.