Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Pizza Problems is a Diary of a Wimpy Kid LLB (Look Like Book) by u/grubbyplaya
that was posted on the subreddit r/LodedDiper on February 20-23, 2022. The story follows Greg and Rowley's attempt at winning the prize money of a pizza-making tournament to afford to manage a pizzeria after a pizza they prepare casually ends up becoming a widespread success. A sequel, called Pizza Problems II, was released on February 9, 2023 and ended on May 15, 2023.
You can read it here.
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Pizza Problems duology contains examples of:
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Pizza Problems I
- Aborted Arc: When Greg finds out that he and Rowley made a pizza better than anything on Pizza Hut's menu, he angers the manager of his local Pizza Hut, with someone muttering the phrase "No one outpizza's the Hut" near him during the Pizza Tournament. This is never brought up again, even in Pizza Problems II.
- Alliterative Title: Pizza Problems.
- Artistic License – Chemistry: A Westmore student throws a pizza with hot sauce and bell peppers into a pizza oven, burning the entire school down to the ground. Spicy ingredients do not affect the flammability of food, and even if it did, the resulting fire wouldn't be large enough to spread across an entire building.
- Bilingual Bonus: Harinezumi means "hedgehog"note in Japanese, reflecting how Mr. Harinezumi's pizzas are shout-outs to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
- Bittersweet Ending: Greg and Rowley lose the Pizza Tournament, but the publicity they get from participating in it alongside an ad for their pizza playing during the Super Cutter allows them to make enough sales to afford the pizzeria.
- Call-Back: Greg's topping supplier is Marconi's Sub Shop, a restaurant that appears in The Meltdown and Big Shot.
- After they lose the Pizza Tournament, Greg and Rowley buy out Papa Tony's Pizza, a pizzeria that appears in Cabin Fever and The Meltdown.
- Canon Foreigner: John Carney, Mike Carney, and Mr. Harinezumi were created specifically for this fanfic.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The Halloween Episode, at first glance, seems like a repost of pages 9-15. However, Greg's summary of Tuesday is changed from "But for some reason, I fell that it's a mistake" to "But it was the biggest mistake I've ever made." Page 11 completely diverges from the main fanfic when the Pizza Hut manager murders everyone in the store, save Greg.
- Halloween Episode: An alternate version of pages 9-15 were made for Halloween eight months after the story concluded. These pages are notable for paying off the Aborted Arc mentioned above.
- Mood Whiplash: While Pizza Problems is generally Lighter and Softer compared to the rest of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the Halloween Episode starts off identically to the original fanfic before going completely off the rails on Page 11 when the Pizza Hut manager attempts to murder Greg with a shotgun.
- Mythology Gag: The story was first posted on a February and takes place in October. The author's first fanfic, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Mega Drive, was first posted on a October and starts off in February.
- Noodle Incident: Plainview somehow won the Pizza Tournament fifty-two years prior to the events of the fanfic with a plain cheese pizza. How this happens is never elaborated on.
- Sequel Hook: Greg's poisonous fake pizza recipe is stolen in the second-to-last page of the fanfic. This is completely forgotten on the last page. However, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Stellar Encore follows up on this, revealing that the thief used it to destroy Greg's reputation and shut down Greg and Rowley's pizzeria in the seven-month Time Skip between the fanfics.
- Shout-Out: Mr. Harinezumi is one to Sonic the Hedgehog. The mask he wears is reminiscent of concept artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, while his tournament-winning pizza is made of Totino's Pizza Rolls, who infamously sponsored a livestream that announced Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces.
- Truer to the Text: The Halloween Episode is this to the copypasta the fanfic is based off of, as it actually adapts Pizza Hut killing Greg's family.
- The Unseen: Despite being the first opponents Greg and Rowley face in the Pizza Tournament, John and Mike Carney are never pictured at all. They are pictured in Pizza Problems II, however.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Pages 10-13 is nearly a word-for-word recreation of the first half of a memetic copypasta where the narrator's family is murdered by Pizza Hut for "outpizzaing the Hut". Everything after the Pizza Hut manager saying "Shame" is Adapted Out.
Pizza Problems II
- Adaptational Jerkass: While Susan in the books usually tries to force her family to fit her vision of a perfect one, the Pizza Problems version of Susan is completely willing to let Greg get kidnapped as long as it stops him from getting into a fight.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: The Mingos in the books are despised by the entirety of Plainview. Here, they team up with Lower Surrey Street to make a maple syrup smuggling ring.
- Alternate Self: The newscaster that announces the end of the world is Greg's alternate universe counterpart.
- Arc Number: 2. Greg and Rowley are a duo, they get two days off during the Pizza Tournament alongside making two pizzas from scratch there, two Gregs appear, and two Earths are about to smash into each other by the end of the fanfic.
- Character Development: Greg in the books is a wimpy kid, but when Rowley decides to let himself get beaten up by the Lower Surrey Street kids, he mans up and goes out of his way to save him.
- Shout-Out: Greg and Rowley's ultimate pizza includes Drummies that are ground up and stuffed into sausages Ordinary Sausage style.
- When Greg recalls learning about fungi in science class, he draws the teacher's mushroom sketch as a Super Mushroom.
- The April Fools' Day special is a Wimpy Kid-style version of Pizza Tower's opening.
- The apocalypse depicted on the news after Greg and Rowley win the Super Cutter is the exact same as an incursion.
- Status Quo Is God: As a result of being canceled during the Time Skip between fanfics, Greg and Rowley are back to trying to win the Pizza Tournament. Page 17 reveals that the Greg and Rowley missing the lunch rush due to attending school was also a factor.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Greg and Rowley finally win the Super Cutter, only for Greg to immediately get kidnapped by interdimensional reporters who want him as a guest star on their piece about the End of the World.
- Time Skip: This fanfic takes place exactly one year after Pizza Problems.
- Title Drop:Greg: I did know one thing for sure: My problems weren't just about pizza anymore.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Greg absolutely adores pizza, to the point where he's never depicted eating anything else.
