History Blog / UpOnTheShelf

* CheshireCatGrin: The first picture of herself before she switched artists had this.

** The first movie Shelf reviewed that could be considered appropriate for Halloween was ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', which is also a Christmas movie. That December, Shelf reviewed ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', which seemed like a Christmas movie but is actually an Easter one. Finally, right on time for Easter, she reviewed ''Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'', which has stories taking place on Christmas and Halloween respectively. She can't help but comment on how strange the planning for this blog has turned out.

* TorchesAndPitchforks: Appears in the form of the mob led by Gaston from ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' if Shelf presents a controversial opinion, like enjoying ''The Hobbit'' movies more than the book they're based on. When she admitted she used to prefer the remake of ''Willy Wonka'' over the original, she's confronted by the enormous one from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'' who assume she still does.

* WesternAnimation/{{The Secret Of Kells}}
* Film/{{The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Wreck It Ralph}}
* WesternAnimation/{{The Nightmare Before Christmas}}
* Film/{{The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Rise Of The Guardians}}
* Film/{{Chitty Chitty Bang Bang}}
* Disney/{{Beauty And The Beast}}
* Film/{{Darby O Gill And The Little People}}
* Disney/{{The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr Toad}}
* Anime/{{Spirited Away}}
* Film/{{The Sound Of Music}}
* Disney/{{Zootopia}}
* Film/{{Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory}}
* Film/{{The Adventures Of Robin Hood}}
* Film/{{The Wizard Of Oz}}
* Disney/{{Peter Pan}}
* Film/{{Singing In The Rain}}
* Film/{{Clash Of The Titans}}
* Film/{{Much Ado About Nothing}}
* Disney/{{Moana}}
* WesternAnimation/{{The Prince Of Egypt}}
* Film/{{Muppet Treasure Island}}
* Film/{{Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone}}
* Disney/{{Fun And Fancy Free}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Pippi Longstocking}}
* WesternAnimation/{{An American Tail}}
* Film/{{The Music Man}}
* WesternAnimation/{{The Black Cauldron}}
* Film/{{A Night At The Opera}}
* WesternAnimation/{{The Nutcracker Prince}}
* Disney/{{Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs}}
* Disney/{{Pinocchio}}
* Disney/{{Fantasia}}
* Film/{{Bill And Teds Excellent Adventure}}
* Film/{{The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug}}
* Film/{{Babes In Toyland 1934}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}
* Film/{{School of Rock}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}

* WesternAnimation/{{How The Grinch Stole Christmas}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}: ''Xmas Story'', ''A Tale of Two Santas''
* WesternAnimation/{{Rockos Modern Life}}: ''Rocko's Modern Christmas''
* WesternAnimation/{{The Simpsons}}: ''Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire'', ''Marge Be Not Proud''
* WesternAnimation/{{Spongebob Squarepants}}: ''Christmas Who?''
* WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}: ''The Santa Experience''
* WesternAnimation/{{Hey Arnold}}: ''Arnold's Christmas''
* Disney/{{Mickeys Christmas Carol}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Toy Story That Time Forgot}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer}}
* WesternAnimation/{{Frosty The Snowman}}

* {{And Now For Something Completely Different}}: Has done Top 10 lists of her favorite {{Series/Faerie Tale Theatre}} episodes and Disney Sing-Along Songs. The former is one of her most popular posts.

* {{A Taste Of The Lash}}: Accidentally consigns herself to this when she references Jeff Dunham in her ''Black Cauldron'' review. [[KnowNothingKnowItAll She didn't realize what the word "flagellate" meant, despite having a minor in English]].

* {{Author Appeal}}: Shelf is a big fan of nearly all things Disney and animation in general, and it shows whenever she reviews something animated. She'll usually devote a bit of space to talk about some trivia and technical aspects she finds interesting.

* {{Ax Crazy}}: Jeffrey Katzenberg is depicted as [[WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog Eustace Bagge]] eager to “CHOP CHOP CHOP” any film he can get his hands on[[note]]This is due to his infamous botched attempt at editing The Black Cauldron himself[[/note]].

* {{Baleful Polymorph}}: Happens to Shelf in the climax of her "Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Future" review when Bill takes over the blog and turns her into [[spoiler:a Funko Pop figurine of Mabel Pines since she adores Mabel so much. Bill is later {{hoisted by his own petard}} when he attempts to smash her and can't thanks to Shelf being able to use Ford's protective unicorn hair spell on herself in that form.]]

* {{Berserk Button}}: Kids being bullied, especially if the bully is an {{Alpha Bitch}} cheerleader type, citing how badly she was tormented by them in school.
** She's also not a fan of the {{Third Act Misunderstanding}} or {{Missed Him By That Much}} since [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot it adds meaningless, easily avoidable conflict that frustrates the audience]].

* {{Brain Bleach}}: Punctuated with a [[BigNo "No!" montage]] by {{WebVideo/Some Jerk With a Camera}} when she realizes that Long John Silver and Miss Piggy did the nasty.

* {{Call Back}}:

** The first movie Shelf reviewed that could be considered appropriate for Halloween was {{WesternAnimation/The Nightmare Before Christmas}}, which is also a Christmas movie. That December, Shelf reviewed {{WesternAnimation/Rise Of The Guardians}}, which seemed like a Christmas movie but is actually an Easter one. Finally, right on time for Easter, she reviewed {{Disney/The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr Toad}}, which has stories taking place on Christmas and Halloween respectively. She can't help but comment on how strange the planning for this blog has turned out.

* {{Caustic Critic}}: Largely averts this. While she's not afraid to criticize certain aspects of a beloved film, she still gives every one she looks at an equal chance and encourages readers to check them out for themselves, especially if they haven't seen it yet.

* {{Character Development}}: Cynicism goes from a Gollum clone who hates everything to a deadpan snarker with some tsundere qualities.

* {{Cheshire Cat Grin}}: The first picture of herself before she switched artists had this.

* {{Christmas Episode}}: Will usually devote the whole month of December to look at Christmas specials and at least one Christmas movie.
** Played with in her first December review, Rise of the Guardians, which she thought was a Christmas movie until she learned it takes place on Easter.

* {{Continuity Lockout}}: Teeters on this with the inclusion of characters such as Cynicism (who made her first appearance in the {{Film/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang}} review, and Baron Munchausen.

* {{Cool and Unusual Punishment}}: When Cynicism is about to make a necrophilia joke aimed at Snow White's {{True Loves Kiss}}, Shelf threatens to take all the {{Creator/Adam Sandler}} movies off the list of reviewable films if she does. Since no one loves snarking at bad films more than Cynicism does, it works.

* {{Deadpan Snarker}}: Shelf, occasionally, but especially Cynicism.

* {{Website/Deviantart}}: The logo appears any time there's an instance of something that wouldn't feel out of place on the site, ie. [[BalloonBelly balloon bellies]], {{gag boobs}}, etc.

* {{Early Installment Weirdness}}: Cynicism, in keeping with who she was based on, initially talked in only in Gollum-speak. It was eventually dropped.

* {{Facepalm}}: As shown by [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast The Beast]] doing so when a character or real-life person does or says something stupid or embarrassing.

* {{Genius Ditz}}: Shelf usually does an extraordinary amount of research going into her movie reviews, but falls into this category by virtue of little things like forgetting February is the shortest month of the year.

* {{Gosh Dang It To Heck}}: Fluctuates between this and {{Cluster F Bomb}} depending on the situation.

* {{Halloween Episode}}: The reviews of ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'', Gravity Falls' "Northwest Mansion Mystery", and ''The Black Cauldron''.

* {{Moral Guardians}}: In the form of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ironic Disney Logo]], who pops up anytime there's something unusually dark going on in a Disney production.
** It's revealed the logo got its start with Disney during The Black Cauldron, but apparently it doesn't remember that fact. Later it's revealed it blacked out all memory of the movie due to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids how terrifying it is]]. It's so traumatized that months later it refuses to put in an appearance for the graveyard scene in ''Mickey's Christmas Carol''.
*** In the same review it gets in a fight with the Deviantart logo over whose territory this movie is and calls it (the DA logo) a pervert. DA shoots back by saying Disney's responsible for fueling half its site.

* {{Nightmare Fetishist}}: She's both terrified and amazed by [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail the Giant Mouse of Minsk]], calling it "the world's biggest, scariest parade float". She also used to be scared of the [[Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad Headless Horseman]] but now thinks he's the best part of the movie he's from.

* {{Obligatory Joke}}: Can't pass up the chance to reference Keifer Sutherland's [[Series/TwentyFour most famous role]] in {{WesternAnimation/The Nutcracker Prince}}. She even sneaks in the famous Christmas tree video!

* {{Oh Crap!}}: Shelf ends the reviews of Snow White and Shrek with this reaction when she learns about their upcoming remakes.

* {{Running Gag}}: If she lists or mentions some kind of food, expect that to be followed up with [[Film/ANightAtTheOpera "And two hardboiled eggs!"]]

* {{Scenery Porn}}: Will stop the review to admire such scenes in ''Pinocchio'' and ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen''.

* {{Screw This Im Outta Here}}: Ironic Disney Logo is so traumatized over having to relive The Black Cauldron that it refuses to appear in the graveyard scene of ''Mickey's Christmas Carol'' and forces Shelf to face it on her own.

* {{Shameless Self Promotion}}: Donation requests began appearing in reviews from early 2016, though they didn't last long. After Shelf wrapped up the Gravity Falls reviews, a fan discovered the Patreon page she made back when she initially planned to make it a web video series and began donating. Since then each review closes with an advertisement for Shelf's Patreon.
** Shelf also posts links to the articles she writes for a site called Movie Babble. These are usually shorter, traditional reviews for current movies or ones celebrating milestones.

* {{So Okay Its Average}}: Her feelings towards ''Toy Story That Time Forgot''. She much prefers ''Toy Story of Terror'' for its stronger story and focus on Jessie.

* {{JustForFun/Statler And Waldorf}}: Will pop in with one of their usual quips whenever a movie features a show that goes hilariously wrong.

* {{Take THAT}}: Any opportunity to stick it to Trump is always taken. He's also represented by his troll counterpart from {{WesternAnimation/The 7D}}.

* {{The Faceless}}: Shelf was this up until the "Weirdmageddon Part 3" review. It turns out she unwittingly entered a deal with Bill Cipher by starting up the blog instead of a video series because she felt uncomfortable with showing her face. His apparent destruction broke the deal and now she's represented by a caricature of herself.

* {{The Munchausen}}: Literally THE Munchausen (as seen in the Terry Gilliam movie) occasionally appears to give his two cents. He also plays a big part in saving the blog from Bill Cipher by [[spoiler:bringing back Quentin Trembley to help save the day.]]

* {{They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character}}: Shelf feels like ''Toy Story That Time Forgot'' was initially written for Rex before Pixar pushed him aside in favor of Trixie in order to avoid more accusations of sexism.

* {{They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot}}: Her main gripe with Nelvana's Pippi Longstocking. It presents an opportunity to deconstruct Pippi's happy-go-lucky personality, but it's not taken advantage of.
** She's also upset Astrid Lindgren decided not to go with Hayao Miyazaki's original concept back in the 70's.

* {{Throw The Dog A Bone}}: Occasionally raises money for charity while giving out rewards to donors such as extra votes and putting films of their choice up for consideration.

* {{Torches And Pitchforks}}: Appears in the form of the mob led by Gaston from {{Disney/Beauty and the Beast}} if Shelf presents a controversial opinion, like enjoying The Hobbit movies more than the book they're based on. When she admitted she used to prefer the remake of ''Willy Wonka'' over the original, she's confronted by the enormous one from {{WesternAnimation/The Simpsons Movie}} who assume she still does.

* {{Trolling Creator}}: The very first Weirdmageddon review "written" by Bill Cipher is completely in the Caesar Cipher code [[note]] that's three letters back[[/note]], confusing many readers. Shelf later posted a version that's "translated" to English.
** Back when Shelf used to announced what movies won the vote on the first of each month, she announced on one [[Main/AprilFoolsDay April First]] that the winning movie was {{Film/Troll 2}}.

* {{Wham Episode}}: The "Dreamscaperers" review revealed Bill Cipher [[spoiler: was the one leaving behind coded messages at the end of each Gravity Falls review, taking control of Shelf while she slept. He apparently has big plans for her]].
** Topped at the end of "Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Future" where [[spoiler: Bill appears fully formed as he does at the end of said episode. Due to a loophole in the deal Shelf unknowingly made by signing up to make a blog instead of doing videos, Bill now has full control of everything and condemns Shelf to an unknown fate.]]

* Disney/{{Wreck It Ralph}}

* Disney/{{The Black Cauldron}}

* WesternAnimation/{{Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer}}

* Film/((The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug}}

* {{Website/Deviantart}}: The logo appears any time there's an instance of something that wouldn't feel out of place on the site, ie. {{balloon bellies}}, {{gag boobs}}, etc.

From July 2016 to February 2019 she also reviewed Gravity Falls in its entirety. She recently started a new series called “By The Cover” where she discusses song covers from movies she’s previously looked at. In December she usually takes a break from films and looks at Christmas specials.

** As of February 2018 she has a new companion series devoted to highlighting good (and bad) covers of songs from musicals, beginning with Snow White.

From July 2016 to February 2018 she also reviewed Gravity Falls in its entirety. She recently started a new series called “By The Cover” where she discusses song covers from movies she’s previously looked at. In December she usually takes a break from films and looks at Christmas specials.

From July 2016 to February 2018 she reviewed Gravity Falls in its entirety. She also started a new series called “By The Cover” where she discusses song covers from movies she’s previously looked at. In December she usually takes a break from films and looks at Christmas specials.

Up On The Shelf is a movie review blog by a writer who prefers to go by the name of “Shelf”. If the tag line hasn’t clued you in, she takes the democratic approach to what films she reviews. She mostly avoids being another {{Caustic Critic}}, but isn’t afraid to give criticism when necessary. She’s usually helped out (but mostly agitated) by her sense of Cynicism personified.

** The sea monster in ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' is revealed to be [[FluffyTheTerrible Merv]], cousin to Monstro the Whale from Disney's ''Pinocchio''. Monstro is confused as to how Merv is okay with letting the people he's swallowed go after sneezing them out. Nearly four years later when Shelf reviewed ''Pinocchio'', Merv pays Monstro a visit as he's chasing an escaped Gepetto and Pinocchio. He isn't pleased with being brushed off so his cousin can go after an old man and his kid after four years of nothing.

** As punishment for bringing the wrong Irishman down to the underworld, Hades gives the job of haunting Sleepy Hollow to [[Creator/BingCrosby "Crosby"]] instead of the Headless Coachman. At the end of the Ichabod and Mr. Toad review, a half-drunk Headless Coachman pops up whining about how the job of scaring Ichabod should have been his.

** On the flip side, she found the buildup to the Banshee in ''Darby O'Gill'' to be creepy, but the creature itself not scary at all despite its insistence that it is.

* {{Berserk Button}}: Bullies, especially if the one doing the bullying is an {{Alpha Bitch}} cheerleader type, citing how badly she was bullied in school by them.

** The sea monster in ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' is revealed to be [[FluffyTheTerrible Merv]], cousin to Monstro the Whale from Disney's ''Pinocchio''. Monstro is confused as to how Merv is okay with letting the people he's swallowed go after sneezing them out. Nearly four years later when Shelf reviewed ''Pinocchio'', Merv pays Monstro a visit as he's chasing an escaped Gepetto and Pinocchio, and isn't pleased with being brushed off after four years of nothing.

* {{Halloween Episode}}: The reviews of ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' and Gravity Falls' "Northwest Mansion Mystery".

** It's revealed the logo got its start with Disney during The Black Cauldron, but apparently it doesn't remember that fact. Later it's revealed it blacked out all memory of the movie due to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids how terrifying the movie is]]. It's so traumatized from having to remember it that months later it refuses to put in an appearance for the graveyard scene in ''Mickey's Christmas Carol''.

* {{JustForFun/Statler And Waldorf}}: Will occasionally pop in with one of their usual quips whenever a movie features a show that goes hilariously wrong.

* {{Shameless Self Promotion}}: Donation requests began appearing in reviews from early 2016, though they didn't last long. After Shelf wrapped up the Gravity Falls reviews, a fan discovered the Patreon page she made back when she initially planned to make it a web video series and began donating. Since then each review closes with an advertisement for Shelf's Patreon.
** Shelf also posts links to the articles she writes for a site called Movie Babble. These are usually shorter, traditional reviews for current movies or ones celebrating milestones.
** In late 2018 she advertised her Etsy store as well as an assortment of things for sale on her Ebay so she could raise money for Christmas presents.

** The Deviantart logo will usually be placed following a screengrab of something that could be interpreted as unusual fetish fuel.

* {{Take THAT}}: Any opportunity to stick it to Trump is taken full advantage of. He's represented by his troll counterpart from {{WesternAnimation/The 7D}}
** Since John Lasseter was outed from Pixar for gross misconduct, anytime she has to refer to him she prefaces his name with "some nobody named". She also calls out Pixar's past discrimination against women.
** In Cynicism's very first appearance, Shelf called her out for being a one-note joke so run into the ground to make a point that she's surprised she's hasn't been shoved into one of [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Doug Walker's]] reviews yet.

* {{The Faceless}}: Shelf was this up until the "Weirdmageddon Part 3" review. It turns out she unwittingly entered a deal with Bill Cipher by starting up the blog instead of a video series because she felt uncomfortable with showing her face. His apparent destruction broke the deal and now she's represented by a caricature of herself.

* {{The Munchausen}}: Literally THE Munchausen (as seen in the Terry Gilliam movie) occasionally appears to give his two cents. He also plays a big part in saving the blog from Bill Cipher by [[spoiler:bringing back Quentin Trembley to help save the day.]]

* {{Throw The Dog A Bone}}: Occasionally raises money for charity while giving out rewards to donors such as extra votes and putting films of their choice up for consideration.

* {{Torches And Pitchforks}}: Appears in the form of the mob led by Gaston from {{Disney/Beauty and the Beast}} if Shelf presents a controversial opinion, like enjoying The Hobbit movies more than the book they're based on. When she admitted she used to prefer the remake of ''Willy Wonka'' over the original, she's confronted by the enormous one from {{WesternAnimation/The Simpsons Movie}} who assume she still does.

* {{Obligatory Joke}}: Can't pass up the chance to reference Keifer Sutherland's [[Series/24 most famous role]] in {{WesternAnimation/The Nutcracker Prince}}. She even sneaks in the famous Christmas tree video!

* {{Obligatory Joke}}: Can't pass up the chance to reference Keifer Sutherland's [[Television/24 most famous role]] in {{WesternAnimation/The Nutcracker Prince}}. She even sneaks in the famous Christmas tree video!