History Literature / DiaryOfAWimpyKid

* "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 8 -- (Unknown)" (2013)

* GenreSavvy: Greg knows that most classics his mom will force him to read will have the DeathByNewberyMedal trope. He does mess up on one prediction, though. He says that because ''CharlottesWeb'' is a "Classic", either the girl or the pig won't make it to the end of the book. He doesn't finish it, so he doesn't realize that [[spoiler: it's ''Charlotte the spider'' who dies]].

* AntiHero: Greg is a Type III/IV with strong elements of a Type I.

* BigBadEnsemble: Greg Heffley has plenty of enemies, mostly bullies or adults that look down on him. Namely Rodrick, Patty, Mr. Jeffreson and in ''Cabin Fever'' [[spoiler: Manny]].

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Heffleys are definitely not a stable family. Frank's a JerkAss and BumblingDad, Susan's absolutely oblivious to how teenagers are nowadays, Rodrick's a step away from dropping out of school, Manny can't seem to stay ''in'' school and Uncle Greg is a slacker who could very well end up like Rodrick. The rest of the family isn't all that stable either.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: In ''Cabin Fever,'' Greg's school replaces the soda vending machine with a bottled water machine as part of its effort to get its students to eat healthier. Where do they put it? ''Right next to the water fountain.''

* NightmareFuel / ParanoiaFuel: InUniverse. Mild example-in the webseries, Greg stays with a relative and complains over how boring it is. He then tells a story where him and Rodrick find an old board game at said relative's house. They open to find out that it was filled with spiders. Greg has a hard time opening boxes after that.

** Yet another in-universe example of AccidentalNightmareFuel occurs when a younger Greg gets scared because Shel Silverstein looks scary to him. His father uses this to his advantage by telling him if he gets out of bed he's run into the writer in the hall, who visits each day. Greg ''still'' doesn't leave his bed at night.

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** Yet another in-universe example of AccidentalNightmareFuel occurs when a younger Greg gets scared because the author of a children's book looks scary to him. His father uses this to his advantage by telling him if he gets out of bed he's run into the guy in the hall. Greg ''still'' doesn't leave his bed at night.

* NamesTheSame: Dr. Salazar Kagan, Greg's dentist, while [[DepravedDentist depraved]], was [[HarryPotter not responsible for founding Hogwarts or opening the Chamber of Secrets.]]

** In the movie adaptation, Greg's mom tells him something along the lines of: "[[HarryPotter It's our choices who make us who we truly are...]]"

Greg's family includes his mother, Susan; his father, Frank, and his two brothers, Rodrick and Manny. Rodrick is older and often picks on Greg, whilst Manny is the baby of the family who can get away with anything. Other kids in the neighborhood include Greg's friend Rowley, and the creepy kid Fregley, who lives down the block.

* CreepyDoll: Greg's lost Alfrendo baby doll from the 6th book. [[spoiler:ItGotWorse when Greg found it again.]]

* {{Flanderization}}: Rowley was simply gullible and slow on the uptake before becoming the KiddyKid.

* CharacterDevelopment: Throughout the books, Rowley learns to stand up for himself and grow a spine instead of blindly following people. By the end of ''The Third Wheel'', [[spoiler: he's also learned how to talk and relate to girls, becoming a couple with Abagail]].

* ChekhovsGag: The sheer number of gags and comic setpieces that turn out to be these goes up with each book. In Book 7, for instance, [[spoiler: Corny's Family-Style Restaurant turns out to be where Greg goes with Abagail and Rowley for dinner before the dance]].

* CluelessChickMagnet: Rowley. He doesn't seem to be all that interested in girls, yet in ''Rodrick Rules'' he's managed to socialize with some of the most popular girls in his year.

-->'''Greg:''' I've read Shadowdoom, and from what I can remember there aren't even any women in the story. In fact, I kind of wonder if the person who designed the cover even ''read'' the book.

* DeadpanSnarker: Greg but his dad isn't really far behind him in levels of snarkiness.

* DemotedToExtra: Manny and Patty in the second movie.

* GenreSavvy: Greg knows that most classics his mom will force him to read will have the DeathByNewberyMedal trope. He does mess up on one prediction, though. He says that because ''CharlottesWeb'' is a "Classic", either the girl or the pig won't make it to the end of the book. He doesn't know this because he doesn't finish it.

** Greg's dad also is a pretty big one. He is ''very'' mean to his kids (although not to the extent of AbusiveParents) and has NEVER shown one bit of love to Greg, unless you count him [[spoiler:not sending him to military school. ''That'' was only after Greg's wimpiness helped him.]]

* NamesTheSame: Dr. Salazar Kagan, Greg's dentist, while [[DepravedDentist depraved]], was [[HarryPotter not responsible for founding Hogwarts or opening the Chamber of Secrets.]]

** The candygram messages used to raise money for the Valentine's Day dance in Book 7 are designed for the giver to fill in their and the recipient's name. Greg tries to cover multiple bases by filling in the blank with one girl's name, but writing in a P.S. telling her to give it to a particular girl who sits near by if she doesn't want to go to the dance with him.

* AdultsAreUseless: Most of the grownups in the books are idiots, to put it lightly. It's not only a genre trait of school-themed works, but also from the point of view of a teen. Greg's mom is arguably the most useful...but she's just out of touch.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Sometimes, Rowley's actions are a bit suspect, especially with Greg. You'd think that a 12-year old boy would realize that sharing a "Best Friends" locket (in the shape of a ''heart'') with ''another'' 12-year old boy would be weird or realize that being a fan of a rather effeminate pop singer isn't exactly manly. It could be argued that he's just completely unaware of these things considering that he is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and is completely sheltered, however.
** Greg himself has his moments... a ''lot'' of moments. However, his frequent crushes on girls push him safely into CampStraight territory.

* AntiHero: Greg is a Type III/IV, also with strong elements of a Type I.

* YouFailBiologyForever: Greg stated in his Science Project that the moose, along with humans, evolved from birds. The teacher was not amused.
* AscendedExtra: ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' itself. It used to be a very obscure webcomic on a site meant for elementary school age kids (specifically Funbrain.com). Now it's a wildly popular 6-book series with three movies and more books to come.

** The movies make the main villains more clear, Pete Hosey in the first, Bill Wlater is the closest you gonna get in the second, and Heather Hills in the third.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Heffleys are definitely not a stable family. Frank's a JerkAss and BumblingDad, Susan's absolutely oblivious to how teenagers are nowadays, Rodrick's a step away from dropping out of school, Manny can't seem to stay ''in'' school and Greg is a slacker who could very well end up like Rodrick. The rest of the family isn't all that stable either.

* BlackSheep: Several members of the extended family; especially Gary who is explained as having been married at least four times.

* BumblingSidekick: Rowley
* ButtMonkey[=/=]IronButtMonkey: Any boy in Greg's year that isn't popular (ie. anybody who's not Bryce Anderson and his flunkies), it's just that we see Greg being a ButtMonkey the most since it is told from his point of view.
* CharacterDevelopment: Throughout the books, Rowley learns to stand up for himself and grow a spine instead of blindly following people.

* CluelessChickMagnet: Rowley. He doesn't seem to be all that interested in girls, yet in ''Rodrick Rules'' he's managed to socialize with some of the most popular girls in his year.

** Greg himself. When he and Rowley often try to accomplish tasks together, he usually makes him do all of the work. Also, there's his treatment of Chirag Gupta and pelting Patty Farrell with apples.
*** The movie makes this a little more justified, by portraying Patty Farrell as an AlphaBitch who is stuck on an insult he did in kindergarten.

* KidsAreCruel: Well, this is middle school, after all. Greg himself isn't above it; Chirag Gupta will tell you that first hand.

* MultipleChoiceFormLetter: Greg does this in the first book, typing out his Christmas cards on the computer with parts missing so he could just fill in the necessary adjustments to it later. (It doesn't work completely well though, such as when he fills out a thank you card for a new pair of pants and he has to say that all is friends would be jealous of it or that he likes how it looks on his legs).

** Subverted in ''Rodrick Rules'' where Greg has often talked about how Rodrick is black mailing him with an embarassing secret that isn't revealed until the end of the book. [[spoiler:He got stuck in the woman's bathroom at the old folks home.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: Greg's parents clearly favor Manny, to the point where he'd pretty be a SpoiledBrat. Manny is allowed to get his way, such as throwing tantrums over minor things like how his sandwich wasn't cut the right way. And his parents ''let him do it''.

* ProductPlacement: A TV set in the first film plays ''WesternAnimation/IceAge''.

** In the movie adaptation, Greg's mom tells him something along the lines of: "[[HarryPotter it's our choices who make us who we truly are...]]"

* SuckECheeses: Corny's Family-Style Restaurant in Book 7. There's is a playground with a ball pit, and the serving staff and overall chaos easily makes up for the lack of animatronic robots and video games.

** There's this exchange from "The Last Straw"

* KiddieKid Greg's best friend Rowley acts like a seven-year-old. It's justified by the fact that he's extremely sheltered because of his overprotective parents.
* KidsAreCruel: Well, this is Middle School, after all. Greg himself isn't above doing such middle school cruelty. Chirag Gupta will tell you that first hand.

* NightmareFuel / ParanoiaFuel: Mild example-in the webseries, Greg stays with a relative and complains over how boring it is. He then tells a story where him and Rodrick find an old board game at said relative's house. They open to find out that it was filled with spiders. Greg has a hard time opening boxes after that.

** Another in-universe example: In Dog Days, Greg watches an old BMovie about a muddy hand who kills the person who sees it right after it kills someone else. The last shot of the movie implies that the hand will go after the viewer next, causing Greg throughout the rest of the book to try to prevent a muddy hand attack.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Zig-Zagged. Greg's mom doesn't appear to have a job, but he mentions that she runs an article in the newspaper, and it's implied she might have been a therapist (but one for younger kids if anything) but is implied to go to school. Otherwise...she's not really doing anything. Greg's dad escapes this because they don't mention what he does, only that he takes a carpool.
** This is arguably a case of FridgeBrilliance - it's told from Greg's point of view. What would he know about what his parents do on a day-by-day basis?

* StylisticSuck: "Li'l Cutie". Oh, dear lord. "Daddy, is rain just God sweating?"

** ''Sherlock Sammy'' is a TakeThat parody towards " Literature/EncyclopediaBrown". It's described as they are all the same where some adult commits a small crime, makes some stupid mistake, and then Sherlock Sammy solves it and then makes the adult look like an idiot. ("Your first problem was that you forgot to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius!")
*** In the webcomic, he actually ''names'' Encyclopedia Brown.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The "Holiday Bazzar" in book 6 was never mentioned again after the signs were hung up.
** The sixth book: Manny hacks Greg's Net Kritterz account and disables it, preventing Greg from being able to log in. It's never mentioned again after that, [[FridgeHorror likely meaning Gregory's Little Friend died]].

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* AscendedExtra: ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' itself. It used to be a very obscure webcomic on a site meant for elementary school age kids (specifically Funbrain.com). Now it's a wildly popular 6-book series with two movies, a third in the making, and more books to come.