The Upper Surrey Street kids banding together against the Lower Surrey Street kids and building a pretty impressive snow fort that manages to hold off several assaults in The Meltdown.
Much later, after the Escalating War has grown in size and turned into a massive free-for-all battle, there's a two-page splash illustration which shows the massive snow battle— no words are written at all, a first for the series.
Manny using the RV to fill the missing spot in the bridge in The Deep End, thus managing to help all the campers escape safely from the now in-shambles camp.
Even better? Doing so left the Heffleys to finally relish a family trip in bliss. Talk about a Surprisingly Happy Ending.
In Big Shot, during the finals of the Last-Chance Tournament, Susan gives Greg over to the opposite team as her ‘secret weapon’, hoping his status as the worst player will cause the opposing team to lose. When swamped by his former team as the ball comes to him, he throws it with his might behind him and manages to win the game for his new team. He then gets hoisted as a hero by his new team. Also, when Greg comments he feels really stupid about dressing up as Chef Marinara for a wax figure exhibit as his school after his mom tells him that the chef is a made-up person, we see a picture of Greg all dressed up and with proper research and everything!
Films
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Greg and Rowley are able to vastly outrun Chirag when Coach Malone has them play "Gladiator." Considering Chirag had the flag for a period of time, who know if one of the two boys would've actually made it to the end with the flag and won the game for the team?
Chirag stops Greg and Rowley just at the right time before one of them touches the moldy cheese. He's got quite the storytelling skills as he warns them of the "cheese touch."
Darren Walsh, the first person to get the cheese touch, somehow manages to blend in with the crowd and give it to the next victim.
When Rodrick catches Greg and Rowley in his room, Rowley is able to restrain Rodrick from attacking Greg. It's enough to buy Greg some time to escape and hide in his room.
Who knew Fregley was good at wrestling when he delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to Greg? Patty Farrell also gives one to Greg as well.
When escaping from Greg's grandmother's house, Greg and Rowley manage to intimidate the teenage bullies with a weedwhacker. And while the bullies vengefully chase the boys after scraping Pete Hosey's Ford F-150, they are able to outrun them just enough for the bullies to be spooked out by the "Devil Worshipper" woods.
The scene where Greg and Rowley pretend to be kindergarteners during their Safety Patrol mission when Pete Hosey's gang drives by. Considering they completely fooled them, it pays off.
Rowley gets this when his Zoo-Wee-Mama cartoon wins the competition and become's the school cartoonist.
Although it is a tear-jerking moment, Rowley standing up for himself and exposing Greg's self-centeredness and poor treatment towards him. It's clear Rowley has had enough of Greg judging him multiple times to the point where he willingly calls him out and ditches him.
Greg singing and nailing "Total Eclipse of the Heart", after a montage of kids who had failed to do so. It's one of the Hidden Depths from Greg that we only get to see once in the trilogy.
Patty gets angry at Greg during a school play and basically throws a temper tantrum. Greg gets annoyed and throws an apple at her. Just so you know, the play was of Wizard of Oz, with Patty as Dorothy and Greg as a tree and the apple wasn't seen as awesome in Greg's mother or the music director's eyes. And unlike the book, Patty in the movies is a bully, so it's more deserved.
Also doubles as heartwarming: after the play, Greg goes out to see his family, and they just walk away disappointed... except Frank. Frank looks down at Greg, and then...
Frank: I thought Dorothy deserved it.
A little bit before said exchange we briefly hear him claim that Greg was the best part of the play. Really, Frank is in general much closer to Greg than he is in the books.
Greg successfully getting Rodrick grounded by their mom for a month by pulling a Batman Gambit having Manny expose his inappropriate magazine as revenge for intently showing her a leaflet for a mother-son school dance Greg didn’t want to attend. This moment is pretty awesome as Rodrick got away with messing with Greg in the first scene of the film.
Rowley and his mother pulling off epic dance moves in the Mother-Son Dance Event and getting the crowd fired up.
Coach Malone pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment when his presence spooks Pete Hosey and the gang right before they force-feed Greg the moldy cheese.
Greg definitely gets this when he takes the blame for Rowley eating the cheese. Not only does he save Rowley from becoming an outcast, but he willingly calls the student body out for their broken, messed-up system. It's clear Greg has completely moved on from trying to be popular, caring more about his friendship with Rowley in the process. And it works.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Greg manages to successfully pass on the Cheese Touch by giving it to the new kid, Jeremy Pindle. Again, it's quite an accomplishment considering he managed to blend in with the crowd while doing so.
A deleted scene when Patty attempts to intimidate Greg, only for the latter to pull an on-the-fly prank by having her sniff a Roller Skate into thinking there is a $5 bill inside. Considering Patty resorted to physical violence as retaliation, it's clear Greg won the psychological battle against her.
Holly Hills' introduction. Shown as she breezily skates past Greg and Rowley with the background music of "Magic" as soon as she appears on-screen. And this is followed by Chirag gushing all over her accomplishments, even if it creepily comes off as stalking. It's no wonder why Greg is smitten with her.
Rowley flawlessly lip-syncing Ke$ha's "TikTok", while pulling off some impressive moves that wouldn't be out of place for the eventual TikTok platform that would emerge many years later.
Rodrick's Wild Teen Party somehow has quite a handful of these.
Rowley rushing in to rescue Greg from the basement. While he eventually gets caught, the sheer dedication of him abruptly ending his magic act to save Greg clearly shows what kind of a true friend Rowley is.
And how does Greg and Rowley end up escaping? Greg successfully persuades Rodrick to rescue him while Susan is on the phone in a three-way call.
Greg and Rowley not only join Rodrick's party, but essentially become the life of it. Particularly Rowley when he jazzes up the crowd, enough for Rodrick's friend, Ben, to persuade Rodrick himself in giving in on the fun. Rodrick really should've let them out much earlier.
At the party's conclusion, the house is a complete mess. And yet, Greg and Rodrick manage to successfully clean it up within a one-hour timespan of the rest of the Heffleys returning home from Rockin'-Rapids. Special mention goes to Rodrick pulling off a Do Well, But Not Perfect by scattering a few pretzel crumbs to ensure nothing suspicious is going on.
When Chirag returns from India, he decides to antagonize Greg for not keeping his promise in going out with Holly Hills. Greg would've just gave in and let Chirag walk all over him, but no, he decides to retaliate by pulling off the "Invisible Chirag" prank enough for the school to get in on it.
And when Chirag seems to get the better of Greg by trying to get Rowley to recognize him with a corn dog, Greg manages to continue on the prank by pulling off a "floating corn dog" remark on the fly. He clearly got Class Clown recognition points on the bag indeed.
However, Chirag ends up getting the last laugh by pretending to be Holly just so that he could finally trick Greg into recognizing his presence and put him in a Circle of Shame.
While Greg is forced to admit to Susan that Rodrick invited people over while the rest of the Heffleys were away, he's able to successfully evade her punishment by remarking how he and Rodrick have used it as an opportunity to get along better (while adding a lie that it was a "band rehearsal", not a "party"). Rodrick hears this and accepts Greg more into his life.
The scene montage where Rodrick teaches Greg how to, in a way, live the "easy life." And yet, Rodrick (and Greg) somehow do it in a hilariously badass flair.
Greg and Rodrick are clearly having the time of their lives when they manage to successfully prank many people into thinking they are seeing vomit in the car (when it is clearly fake). However, when one of the people turns out to be Coach Malone, they not only outrun him (even through a trash bin), but they manage to fool Coach Malone by use the mannequins and their clothes en route to their escape.
Holly not only apologizing to Greg for calling him "Fregley," but being able to get on Greg's level and bond with him over shared sibling experiences despite seemingly being way out of his league.
The Talent Show definitely has a handful of moments.
Say what you want about Patty Farrell, but her rendition of "Memory" as part of her singing act is downright impressive.
Doubles as a heartwarming moment: Greg managing to persuade Susan in getting Rodrick back into the band while filling in for Scotty at the last minute for Rowley's magic performance.
And despite Greg knowing nothing about how Rowley rehearsed for the magic act, the two make it work and end up giving one hell of a comedic performance, all from winging it. Even Rowley admits it was better than the rehearsals.
The best part? Not only does Greg impress Holly further, but it truly mends the strained relationship between Greg and Rodrick. Then, there's also the scene where the bird (unintentionally) gives Patty Farrell her well-deserved karma by pooping on her.
Pretty much the whole Exploded Diaper scene in the second movie. Although In-Universe, everyone was cheering for Mrs. Heffley dancing in the background.
If that's note enough, Rodrick gets back at Bill for being a jerk to him by kicking him out of the band, outright giving him an Ironic Echo word-for-word.
Even better? Greg uploads the video Frank recorded on his YouTube account, and it manages to be a viral hit.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Holly Hills continues to show why she's some sort of an ace when she displays her impressive tennis skills against Greg and Rowley. And she proves herself to be good of a teacher by showing Greg the moves, unlike...let's say...Patty Farrell.
Greg gets a special mention by landing the lone score for him and Rowley despite having little to no experience playing actual tennis.
Greg managing to persuade the snobby, stuck-up Heather Hills into inviting Rodrick and Loded Diper to perform for her Sweet 16. Considering her low opinion of both Greg and Rodrick, it's quite the accomplishment.
Fregley gets one with the "Muddy Hand" story he told in the third movie. Say what you want about his weird behavioral traits, but he is quite the storyteller.
Greg's effort to defend Frank's honor after hearing Stan Warren talk smack about him behind their backs.
I'll show him what a Heffley is made of.
And how does he do it? He gets Rowley, Chirag, and Fregley to join in on an elaborate prank involving ants and an extremely creative wire-trap covered in honey.
While the prank initially fails at first due to the boys not anticipating Stan to arrive at the tents much earlier, Greg manages to expose Stan's dishonesty by having his tent burned up and his conveniences revealed.
Frank definitely gets this when he stands up for himself and Greg. And that's not before he finds out that Stan is a fraud.
The best part? Stan ultimately falls for the trap anyway, and his troop abandons him.
The ending clearly shows Greg at his most accomplished. His friendships with Rowley and Rodrick has truly gotten stronger, he gains the respect of his parents, and it's heavily implied he and Holly Hills are an Official Couple — explicitly shown when she holds hands with Greg at the party and regularly hangs out with him at the town pool.
