My computer screen was so bright that I couldn't even see the weird after-images on my avatar towards the end of the video, so uh, pretend those aren't there
I distinctly remember learning weaponized incompetence from Rodrick in one of these books when he tells Greg that if you screw something up enough you never have to do it again
Imagine meeting someone who has like 30 diaries cataloging almost their entire life. If this were real it would be an incredible piece of outsider art crossed with an autobiography. Greg is truly an insane person and I love him for that.
This is even worse than the time Greg Heffley..................Oh wait, there's no need for a cutaway..............Greg's donw way too many bad things to count...
My theory is that Greg stopped when middle school ended and found his diary’s when he got older and cashed in and sold them as legit published books and made more later
36:23 Dude no, these books are still CRAZY popular, you have no idea. I'm a librarian, and these things get checked out. ALL. THE. TIME. I probably have all the titles memorized from the amount of times I've reshelved them, it's wild.
Fun Fact: Diary of a Wimpy Kid was originally a really long book on Funbrain. Then, when it was adapted into a paper book, Jeff Kinney had to cut quite a bit out. The material that was cut out then turned into multiple plot points in Rodrick Rules, which is why that one essentially feels like an expansion of the first one.
There's actually material from that huge book going all the way up until Hard Luck, if I recall correctly. The segment in Hard Luck about young greg putting his hand on the iron after being told not to was originally in that huge book
Fun little fact about Hard Luck, in most of the drawings, you can find hidden eggs just in the background, just behind stuff, and ive never seen anybody talk about it online
@@neelimavaishnavi6520Greg’s Great Grandmother Meemaw would hide Easter eggs every year for the kids. They were mostly filled with candy, with some containing a five dollar bill. She hid way more than was necessary, that’s why there are still some unfound eggs lying around years later. As Meemaw got older, the eggs started having stranger prizes in them, like a paper clip, a bottle cap, and a used tissue. The last Easter egg hunt happened the year Meemaw passed away. At the funeral, they notice she wasn’t wearing her diamond wedding ring that’s worth a lot of money. Greg’s whole extended family frantically looks for it and accuses each other of stealing it, arguing over who would get it in the will. Eventually, Greg finds an egg in her backyard, with the ring inside. He doesn’t tell anyone, afraid of splitting up the family, and just hides it in the closet in case he ever needs the money.
Steve Zahn was casted PERFECTLY for the movies tho, he is so good at being that dad who’s had it up to here all the time and has those crazy eyes when he’s mad.
i like how jeff kinely didn't want the deep end to have heavy covid 19 refrences so it won't be irrelevant in a few years but later adds a werewolf vampire as an obvious homage to twilight like it wasn't a dead franchise for 8 years at that point
Werewolves and vampires being attractive to young women is something that didn't start and end with Twilight exclusively though, plus it's a lot less depressing than putting COVID in a book.
The Long Haul book was made specifically so it could be adapted into a movie. It said that in the movie diary about it. That's why it focused on the Heffley family and had them get into more outlandish situations than any of the other books up to that point.
That's where the series jumped the shark in my opinion. Even when I read that one as a kid I noticed how jarring the shift was to these unrealistic situations after the series had remained relatively grounded until that point.
The Shel Silverstein jumpscare sent shivers down me timbers. Also as a band kid, $600 for a French horn sounds generous. The drums I march are usually up in the THOUSANDS.
@@koda_dawggI didn't even know who the fuck he was. I read the joke in the wimpy kid book, found out he was real from my family, looked up his photo and then got terrified of him.
27:50 i like to believe that greg is so used to his families dysfunction that seeing a genuinely healthy family relationship is too jarring and confusing for him to handle and that's why he calls for help.
Idk man I feel like David from the No David! franchise has him beat here I was absolutely disgusted by his war crimes & how he was able to evade all consequences due to his insane manipulation skills.
One of my biggest childhood repressed memories was in 4th grade when one of my classmates vandalized my copy of DOAWK dog days so i took a page out of greg heffley's book and put a thumbtack on his seat like the spiked ball from Roderick rules I still have not been caught to this day. Im sorry Franklin.
What makes Gregory's character so great is that he's an a-hole and the books play it completely straight. He's not some deep character analysis about the duality of man like many YT videos have you believe.
The worst thing Susan ever did was when Greg told her Rodrick said a curse word, and she asked what It was, so he spelled It out, only for her to punish him with a bar of soap In his mouth for knowing how to spell a curse word, while Rodrick got off scot free.
The most tragic part in that one Wimpy Kid book is when Rowley says “I’m not gay, Greg.” Then closes the door, causing Greg to sob. That book is a cinematic masterpiece, and that scene helps.
Worst to best with timestamps, you get the drill: 18. Old School (1:03:24) 17. Wrecking Ball (1:23:48) 16. The Deep End (1:33:28) 15. Big Shot (1:42:52) 14. Double Down (1:08:23) 13. The Long Haul (56:49) 12. The Getaway (1:13:24) 11. Diper Överlöde (1:50:57) 10. The Last Straw (17:35) 9. Cabin Fever (38:02) 8. The Meltdown (1:18:35) 7. No Brainer (1:55:13) 6. Rodrick Rules (10:14) 5. The Ugly Truth (32:52) 4. The Third Wheel (44:45) 3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (3:04) 2. Dog Days (25:27) 1. Hard Luck (50:32) EXTRA: The Wimpy Kid Do-it-yourself Book (23:23) The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (30:30) Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid (1:28:35) Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (1:37:55) Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories (1:47:25)
Fun Fact: Jeff Kinney came to my school back in primary school and in my classroom, a student asked how many books was he going to make (most recent book was hard luck) and Jeff said 10. Clearly we are past that
I remember finding it really jarring when the Mingos, who first appeared in Hard Luck, reappeared in The Meltdown since side characters seem to essentially disappear after a while.
I personally think that, with the exception of fairly odd parents, books and shows going on for so long always feel the need to bring in long forgotten side characters for new stories since the writer usually has long exhausted every other possible character in the main cast
Yeah one of the problems I kinda had with the DoAWK books going on is they always made up new kids instead of just reusing some random kid from an earlier book, unless a lot of people move in and out of his town I doubt there are that many kids he has to run into all the time
@@TheAlexSchmidt It's a fine line authors are walking between making the world feel inconsistent and large, and stagnant and small, with organic familiarity in the middle.
I work with kids from Elementary and Middle school, and I promise you that Diary of a Wimpy kid is still very popular. Almost as much as it was when I was their age
One of my friends lives down the street from the author’s bookstore. One night as I was driving her home she pointed out the light was on in the top floor of the bookstore and said, “Oh, Jeff must be writing!” Apparently her family has known him since before he started the series lol
They should’ve made Diary Of A Wimpy Kid The Ugly Truth movie because it was about growing up and puberty in 8th grade, and since the actors were growing up it could’ve been nice
It’s harder to do as a majority of the plot revolves around the falling out between Greg and Rowley, since the two were cool with each other at the end of the 3rd film it would be harder to hit those plot points
@@BlueBlazeKing right. Well, maybe instead of Hard Truth they could’ve done Cabin Fever, but I just can’t picture Movie Manny turning all the energy off from the house and taking everything with him
I remember my dad took my brother and I to see one of the movies, and for years he quoted the "Who put General GRANT on the THERMOSTAT?!" quote that the dad said. It got him into painting miniatures for a little while, though he preferred Roman soldiers.
I love how after the third book, the series just gave up on having each sequel progress through Greg’s middle school years, and from that point forward the story just exists in a perpetual present where no one grows older and nothing changes, solely because they knew they were going to make more sequels at that point, and didn’t want to leave middle school.
My theory is that Rowley has died several times through the book, but has the ability to reset time to prevent his own death. Every time he does it, it resets the clock, which is why they're still in middle school. Rowley fell off the big wheel and broke his neck, got poisoned by the cheese, got his burn infected, etc.
My elementary school in 2009 had to have an entire fucking assembly to tell us to knock it off with the cheese touch because it was considered bullying 💀
@@opheliasgh0stme and some girl from elementary school replaced the “Cheese Touch” with the name of a student we didn’t like. Called it the [Name] Touch, and I won’t repeat the name because that kid got bullied for it and I am ashamed every day lmao
One of the bits from the books reminded me of when my 1st grade teacher had us make our own spin on The Three Little Pigs story. In the middle of illustrating the story, I somehow misunderstood one of my teacher's directions as "They all have to die at the end." For some reason, I didn't question why that was apparently supposed to happen and just went with it. In the end, we all stood up to present our stories and I remember panicking when the other kids' stories ended happily. So you can imagine how anxious I was when everyone started questioning why I had the three animals die at the end. The teacher had to step in and tell everyone I could end the story any way I wanted, but either way, I was extremely stressed out in front of everyone that day.
1:31:43: Perhaps this should be the subject of its own video essay -- discussing comic relief-centered spin-offs and why you believe they don’t work, because I’ve always wondered why some comic relief characters (like Sheen, Kronk, and Rowley) don’t work as stand-alone protagonists, and why others (like the Madagascar Penguins, LEGO Batman, and Puss in Boots) seem to work just fine as the stars of their own shows and/or movies. Plus, there are certain side characters _I_ personally wish had their own shows, but fear that there may be a ton of arguments for why that would be a _terrible_ idea.
I dont think you want more Greg in Diper Overload. Every page including Greg in a book with Diaper in the title risks a reference to "Greg Hefley, Diaper Hand!"
I don't think you more Greg in diaper overload. Every page including Greg in a book with diaper in the title risk a reference to Greg Hefley, diaper hand!
I don’t think you want more Greg in Diper Overload. Every page including Greg in the book with Diaper in the title risks a reference to “Greg Heffley, Diaper Hand!”
Wanted to just say Hard luck was always one of the books that I remember most, so seeing Mark agree that it was good was validating that I was remembering it for a good reason. I genuinely love the ending of him going to find the 8 ball and finding the egg with the ring, especially cause in an earlier drawing in the book you see that egg in the background in the spot it’s eventually found. Masterful attention to detail
About Jeff not wanting Greg to go to high school, I think that could be pretty nice idea for a book. I can imagine everyone going to high school besides Greg, because he's apparently failing his classes, where the book just follows him doing anything in his power to graduate. Getting a tutor which I can imagine him being more interested in than studying, going to a hypnotist to help him study just to realize it's a scam, and sucking up to his teachers in hopes that his grades will improve. Would make a pretty good book if you ask me. Also, to nobody's shock, the newest installment is a vacation 💀
It's strange how similar Diary of a Wimpy Kid's evolution is to The Simpsons. In both, you have a golden age of eight brilliant entries, a sudden decline, and then endless stagnation that feels like an entirely different series than the classic era you fell in love with.
Although the most recent season of the Simpson is at least better than the last several season as they acknowledge the show became stagnant, and have tried to differentiate it.
Yeah, 8 was really the magic number, you get occasional great entries like 10 and 13 but mostly just less good. The REAL rot set in with book 16 onwards though
The shock on my face when you said TWENTY THREE books, I genuinely thought Old School was like the third or fourth to last and most people stopped reading them right around when I did, I can’t believe I barely made it halfway
@@spagootest2185I imagine it was the cutoff for most people because they grew out of the series by that point or because they felt the decline would continue and so they stopped buying before the books got really bad (if they were to continue the downward slide). I stopped getting Wimpy Kid books after Hard Luck (maybe Long Haul, can’t remember exactly) because I didn’t have interest in the series anymore given I was 11-12 and in middle school.
There’s so many entries in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, it feels more like a manifesto at this point. Especially with the picture it paints of Greg as a beaten-down, bitter, angsty pushover that’s just a hair away from snapping at any moment
Again, the biggest reason for the films success is that they knew the movies only had a limited amount of time with these characters so they could actually have them grow and change. Meanwhile in the books the characters never age and any book has to work as someone's first book in the series so aside from very minor things, the characters can never grow or change in any significant way.
Plot twist: the page at 1:06:57 wasn't a printing or editing error. That was Greg's true demon form unleashing itself from his façade of adolescent mortality.
When i was a kid, Hard Luck was always my favorite book. every single one of my friends disagreed with me, and the internet also wasn't the biggest fan of the entry either. I cannot express how much i feel validated by watching this video. great watch btw
Even as someone who read Hard Luck day one, I knew it was at least tied with Cabin Fever as my favorite, most people I knew seemed to like it a lot too
I think the best ending to the books would be that all of these stories are just slightly modernized versions of things Jeff actually did so Greg grows up to be the author of his own book.
I always thought DOWK would end with Greg becoming the author and just bring embarrassed about his hijinxs. Thus deciding to turn them into these books.
The fact that this book series was so popular that many of us can remember playing the cheese touch game in elementary school is honestly impressive. These books were so funny when I was younger
Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been out for so long that I wonder if people remember that it originally started off on Funbrain (owned by the people who made Poptropica!). That was some fun indoor recesses and computer lab time spent in school reading through all the pages.
Worth noting is that the early books in the Wimpy Kid series, especially the first three, are compilations of entries from the original 2004 web novel on FunBrain. So part of the reason why they feel like a bunch of random excerpts without a major overarching plot is because they literally are.
Oh my God I thought I only read like 3 or 4 of these but as you went through the books I went insane because I remembered at least one major moment from every single one. I read ALL of these up until like, The Long Haul, I think? I genuinely, constantly think about the scary movie they watch, Greg in the womb, him finding the key in The Long Haul, Manny unplugging the power, etc etc etc. Thinking back, as an autistic child, I 100% didn't get the point and related to Greg a ton and absolutely took after him. To this day, I will get intrusive thoughts that sound like a Greg scheme to get rich and/or famous. I finally have a place to blame my sociopathic tendencies! Thanks LS Mark!
I heard a theory once that the reason basically boils down to the fact that his mom is buying the same brand of diary over and over which is why it always has the same number of pages + looks/feels almost identical each time
The problem with the newer books is that they’re always padding out the runtime with convoluted shenanigans and filler. The really good stuff doesn’t happen until the towards the end and then everything immediately goes back to normal at the last minute. I think serialization could be the right step to take the series in. It could keep people wanting more of the characters and it’s a great way to age with the people who read the books from day one. Plus, a lot of great book series are serialized these days such as the Last Kids on Earth or Dog Man.
Also sucks that Jeff is contractually binded to have all books the same page number and has a limit range of how the timeline of events should be in each book
I heard someone say Greg will either be two things in life: "A mobster or like one of the main characters on Seinfeld. But either way, people are going to hate him." Which yeah… come to think of it, I think that’s a shockingly accurate way to describe Greg Heffley, even like a mobster. A good example that comes to mind is Tony Soprano. Now I know people are gonna think that's ridiculous to compare Greg to Tony, but when you look at both characters, there's a lot similar about them both. Both have extremely toxic families, have such a warp perception of what being well-respected amongst their peers means, even coming to some types of epiphanies. Yet, when they do attempt to seek for any advice on something that they feel they’ve done wrong, they both end up falling victim to their numerous bad habits and behaviors, either due to external forces or their own misinterpretations of the lessons people try to teach both of them, therefore end up failing on taking any steps to change their ways. Now I also compared Greg to someone in Seinfeld, to which I still stand by as when you do look at both the show and the book series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is basically the anti-young adult novel. To put into perspective before 2007, a lot of the average young-adult or children's literature usually tackled the typical teenage tropes you usually see. This is even something you'll notice on teen sitcoms too. But usually no matter what these teen characters got up to, they often found their way through it, with the help of their friends/family. With their stories ending on a general lesson for us (the audience) could walk away with. But then there's Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Including Greg himself, a lot of the characters are inconsiderate, ignorant, self-centered, narcissistic, or even sociopathic, like on Seinfeld. Almost nobody ever changes, including Greg. The fiascos that either he or his family get themselves in are usually brought about by their own egos and selfishness. And in almost each of the books, they usually don't end with a general life lesson. Yet, I'd argue that was meant to be the point, both the creators of Seinfeld and Wimpy Kid were trying to make. As because each had characters you shouldn't like, it doesn't matter if you don't like them. In fact, it'd be more funny if you didn't. You could say that Diary of Wimpy Kid, is meant to be a satirical look at traditional teen literature of the past. THE ANTI-YOUNG ADULT SERIES.
I remember in like 6th grade all the boys in my class DESPISED the Dork Diary books. I mean they never were my thing either, I much prefer the DOAWK books (duh) but like this was a whole other level 😭 they tried to get those books out of the school library entirely
I actually really like how structureless the early books are. Not just because it makes sense for a kids diary, but it refreshing to not have everything have such a rigid structure
This was that series I read all of in middle school, then I blinked to the end of high school and suddenly there were 30 books, two spin offs, three movies, and an audio drama staring Pete Wentz
I swear to God you can get me to watch a multi hour video essay on literally any media franchise at this point. Im a 30 year old dude that was WAY too old to care about these when they came out back in the day, and yet here i am strapped in for the video
Never gonna forget how *absolutely viral* DOAWK went with my Year 2 class back in 2015. I must've started it from bringing The Ugly Truth to school and showing my classmates funny bits from it, and then they went on to binge the series and we all went mad seeing The Long Haul reach our library's shelves. And it got that viral that our teacher banned us from saying anything from the book, as some of us were saying or doing things like starting from the book that would get us in trouble, like Cheese Touch and Water Touch, or saying dumb things from the book.
I can't wait to watch this one, I've been a huge Diary of a Wimpy kid fan for a long time and still collect the books. Also, I still haven't received a response from you regarding whether or not you want to make a brief cameo in a video I'm working on. Sorry to be so annoying but it would be great if I could just hear back from you on this.
This is amazing! 😭 I love these books- honestly, I only started not liking em after The Meltdown™, aside from the last one I genuinely liked the Awesome Friendly series (and Old School is actually one of my favorites 😭) You’ve mentioned “adult Greg Heffley” a lot, honestly I genuinely recommend “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: 25 Years Later”. The art is PHENOMENAL, and as goofy as the thought of a depressing DoaWK spinoff is, it’s actually really good 😭 The creator said they took inspiration from Bojack Horseman, and it definitely shines through!
I think the funniest part of this series is that Greg never even wanted the first diary, thinking it was a stupid idea. Then continues to buy 17+ more of them
Small corrections: In Dog Days, giving away the dog wasn't a punishment, but just because it was so dysfunctional. And he only wants Rowley's dad to lose his memories of the debt.
Here’s a fun fact about The Getaway: before it came out I went to a book store and they had a little pamphlet preview that took place right around the Airport segment, and the flight attendant is drawn differently. Not important at all and I sadly don’t have it anymore but still, kinda neat
Yooo this is hype!! I love this series!! Books were great and omg the original movies were so so SOOO good!! (I LOVED THE AUDIOBOOKS, I USE TO LISTEN TO THEM AS I WENT TO SLEEP!!) People say he's a psychopath, and I mean I see that- But the way I see it is: Greg is meant to be a twerp/self absorbed dork who thinks he's the maincharacter, and you sort of have to cheer for him when he does something good and grows up. He's egotistical, and the lovable part about him is you can see and laugh at how of a dumb kid he is. Sometimes seeing him do something bad and you realize "oh I did that before uh oh" makes him relatable, granted thats rare when he's constantly doing dumb crap lol!
My family stumbled on these books when my younger brother got the first one in a book catalogue he got at school. Despite the fact that there is an 8 year gap between him and my oldest brother, everyone loved the book. The dry humor appealed to us so much. Even my dad read them.
Honestly i agree that no brainer would have worked with ending with greg in slacksville....but then again i unironically laughed my ass off when greg remembering the incorrect latin from his sham latin teacher essentially caused the status quo reset .
As part of the population who read the books as a kid, I wanna bring up r/LodedDiper which has this type of fan work known as Looks Like Book or LLBs for short which take pages from each book and have them edited to form another story or with new pages drawn most. Most famous example being 25 Years Later which has the line “I’m Not Gay Greg” Imagine if Greg and Rowley read these LLBs Also, I yearn for the day that we get an actual cartoon series instead of the mediocre movies they put out on Disney+
The thing I always found funny about the movie diary is that to me, it always felt like DLC for the DVD. The DVD (or at least my copies) never had a behind the scenes video so this was the best I got to see what went on.
Hope you don't mind the info dump! I used to be heavily involved within the wimpy kid fandom back when the memes were huge and can answer some things briefly touched upon. 1. The dabbing kid in the Meltdown was already considered dated at the time of release. However, the unexpected quality of the book is considered a huge factor of the fandom's rise during that brief period of time. 2. Long Haul and Old school are considered the official reboots by Jeff Kinney, this could explain why those two books specifically feel different from the rest of the series. Meltdown is an unofficial reboot since it took away Old School's "no continuity" rule by bringing back many legacy characters and moments. 3. Greg was originally planned to actually move at the end of Wrecking Ball, which is why the ending feels rushed and possibly why it is so bare-bones. 4. Greg's kid book drawings in Wrecking Ball might be a reference to wimpy kid fanfics, in one interview Jeff said he found them "disturbing". 5. Double Down was part of a huge event, including the release of the musical, a UK Mcdonald's promotion, and more. It was meant to be back to basics to the first book which is why it's so over the place. 6. It's a common theory that the bad reception over Awesome Friendly Kid is why Greg acts nicer in newer books and the Disney movies. 7. There are examples of Jeff Kinney writing outside of Wimpy Kid. There's some rare books from the pizza hut book it program written by him. They are just wimpy kid with another flavor though.
I really hope mark does this with other book series or at least talks about them at some point. It'd be really interesting to see his perspective on franchises like captian underpants, bone and big nate.
I think a reboot story of Greg as like a construction worker or whatever would work greatly. You could focus more on slightly more adult issues while keeping lighthearted. Great video, and I want to see all three movies after watching it, so you did your job…also, tell Wench I said hi.
I think a great ending for diary of a winpy kid would be a flash forward to greg and rowley being in their thirties looking more like their fathers just sharing a moment showing how even though greg isnt some multimillionaire he still enjoys the man he had become
The memory flashbang I got when you describe him going downstairs and emailing his mom from Rowley’s dads email, and her being creeped out because, ya know, it’s her son’s friend’s dad.
I remember my mom buying a boxed set of the first five books at the book fair years ago. I remember having Third Wheel seperately though and getting uncomfortable with all the womb shit. Good content, Mark. Love what you do!
Something about your plushie sliding onto the scene with a stone movement sound is way funnier than it should be also cool another video to fall asleep too, thanks Mark :D
@@nostalgialodeon9305 I might potentially be misremembering this but I know he talked about on his podcast Meeting Halfway when they were talking about Death and Bababooey.
Whoever chose the Excelsior OST Utero track for the Third Wheel section is a true connoisseur, caught me so off guard holy shit. I dunno how much overlap there is for Isaac players who listen to Fiend Folio’s OST and LS Mark viewers is but I just want you to know that at least one person noticed and I thought it was really cool
One thing that always bothered me is that I have no idea how a literal toddler knew how a fuse box worked and how he never got punished for shutting off power to the rest of the house and taking all the food
My computer screen was so bright that I couldn't even see the weird after-images on my avatar towards the end of the video, so uh, pretend those aren't there
Crazy
Never
Crazy
Fair enough sometimes shit happens
Suggestion for a video: Ranking Every Season Of Power Rangers.
I distinctly remember learning weaponized incompetence from Rodrick in one of these books when he tells Greg that if you screw something up enough you never have to do it again
omg i remember that
"Not settin' up the chairs next time! Not settin' up the chairs next time!"
LITERALLY I've spent a lot of time unlearning that 😢
Oh damn!😳
@@Lunar.67Why would you ever unlearn that? It's a fantastic tool for getting out of boring tasks at work.
Imagine meeting someone who has like 30 diaries cataloging almost their entire life. If this were real it would be an incredible piece of outsider art crossed with an autobiography. Greg is truly an insane person and I love him for that.
He writes pretty much every detail in his life he's definitely insane
So... Chris Chan?
Sounds like Adol Christin from Ys. Except significantly less charismatic and stable.
You do that for real life
I mean the whole reason why he did this is so people won't bug about his life story.
Maturing is realizing Diary of a Wimpy Kid is just 200 pages of Family Guy cutaways with a plot
And thats not a bad thing
Plot is optional tbh
This is even worse than the time Greg Heffley..................Oh wait, there's no need for a cutaway..............Greg's donw way too many bad things to count...
I remember thinking “Man, this is 200 pages? Why is it so looooooong?!”
Lol
so thats why my adhd drew to the books because family guy ruined my attention span worse than vine lol
My theory is that Greg stopped when middle school ended and found his diary’s when he got older and cashed in and sold them as legit published books and made more later
that's my new headcanon now
that's a very Greg Heffley thing to do
So everything after Hard Luck is made up
My headcanon is that he drank himself to death
@@JSChronicle489 Yep, that's the best part! We get to write the weird books out of the canon
*Cannon*
36:23 Dude no, these books are still CRAZY popular, you have no idea. I'm a librarian, and these things get checked out. ALL. THE. TIME. I probably have all the titles memorized from the amount of times I've reshelved them, it's wild.
Which ones get checked out the most?
This makes me happy
Oh ya they DEFINITELY are. My little brother has my old ones and gets the new ones as a gift for his birthday or Christmas.
I second that as a Barnes and Noble workers. Every new one sells out SO fast
Hell yeah
Fun Fact: Diary of a Wimpy Kid was originally a really long book on Funbrain. Then, when it was adapted into a paper book, Jeff Kinney had to cut quite a bit out. The material that was cut out then turned into multiple plot points in Rodrick Rules, which is why that one essentially feels like an expansion of the first one.
The Funbrain version was over 1000 pages long, and most of the material was used across the first 6 books
There's actually material from that huge book going all the way up until Hard Luck, if I recall correctly. The segment in Hard Luck about young greg putting his hand on the iron after being told not to was originally in that huge book
Ellie the plush "bowling pin" elephant from Hard Luck I think was the last thing from the online book to be adapted.
The Funbrain version is what I read originally as a kid.
...Funbrain DOAWK was the original Homestuck.
Never heard of Fun brain.
"The Last Straw" refers to Dad getting fed up with Greg's act and planning to ship him off to military academy. "This is the last straw, Greg!"
Yea…
Out of jealousy of his boss.
I think it also refers to how many times Greg got screwed over in that book. The last straw for him was Holly calling him Fregley.
I thought it was referring to how it was originally supposed to be the last vook
Adding onto things mark didnt know the cover in hard luck DID happen in the book iirc
And third wheel referred to Greg feeling like the third wheel on his thing with rowley and that girl
Fun little fact about Hard Luck, in most of the drawings, you can find hidden eggs just in the background, just behind stuff, and ive never seen anybody talk about it online
I remember that vividly.
I think that was for some random egg hunt where the first person to find all the eggs gets some prize or something
@@neelimavaishnavi6520I think one of the eggs had their late aunts super expensive wedding ring that they all wanted to pawn off
@@neelimavaishnavi6520Greg’s Great Grandmother Meemaw would hide Easter eggs every year for the kids. They were mostly filled with candy, with some containing a five dollar bill. She hid way more than was necessary, that’s why there are still some unfound eggs lying around years later. As Meemaw got older, the eggs started having stranger prizes in them, like a paper clip, a bottle cap, and a used tissue. The last Easter egg hunt happened the year Meemaw passed away. At the funeral, they notice she wasn’t wearing her diamond wedding ring that’s worth a lot of money. Greg’s whole extended family frantically looks for it and accuses each other of stealing it, arguing over who would get it in the will. Eventually, Greg finds an egg in her backyard, with the ring inside. He doesn’t tell anyone, afraid of splitting up the family, and just hides it in the closet in case he ever needs the money.
@@henrynelson9301holy shit, that is quite the story
Steve Zahn was casted PERFECTLY for the movies tho, he is so good at being that dad who’s had it up to here all the time and has those crazy eyes when he’s mad.
i like how jeff kinely didn't want the deep end to have heavy covid 19 refrences so it won't be irrelevant in a few years but later adds a werewolf vampire as an obvious homage to twilight like it wasn't a dead franchise for 8 years at that point
Twilight never dies, no matter how hard we try to kill it.
Werewolves and vampires being attractive to young women is something that didn't start and end with Twilight exclusively though, plus it's a lot less depressing than putting COVID in a book.
twilight actually had a pretty big resurgence during covid 19, i would recommend watching sarah z’s video on it
@@TheBonkleFox It just reincarnates as a BDSM series for older women that portrays abuse and stalking as romantic.
It can ALWAYS get worse.
Speaking of Twilight just randomly in target parking lot I saw the movie disk on concrete.
I love that Rodrick's actor was also in SAW and fucking melts a guy with acid for letting his dad die.
He also has a small role as a scientist in oppenheimer. blew my mind
his role in saw 6 was actually before DOAWK, if you can believe it
@@thej2241 Yeah that's where I recognized him
he also plays a violent bully in a few episodes of degrassi : the next generation
@@mimigigihereno way he was in degrassi? thats nuts
The Long Haul book was made specifically so it could be adapted into a movie. It said that in the movie diary about it. That's why it focused on the Heffley family and had them get into more outlandish situations than any of the other books up to that point.
That's where the series jumped the shark in my opinion. Even when I read that one as a kid I noticed how jarring the shift was to these unrealistic situations after the series had remained relatively grounded until that point.
And then the movie didnt even end up following the book
Too bad the movie had the shitty re-casts
And when I say that I mean they were not cooking with the cast this time
feel like No Brainer & diaper overload wanna be movies as well.
The Shel Silverstein jumpscare sent shivers down me timbers.
Also as a band kid, $600 for a French horn sounds generous. The drums I march are usually up in the THOUSANDS.
I was laughing so hard at that joke when it was in the books and I was hoping that it was going to be in this video. Certainly was not expecting that!
same. i used to have the giving tree as a kid and i was also terrified of the picture of him.
@@koda_dawggI didn't even know who the fuck he was. I read the joke in the wimpy kid book, found out he was real from my family, looked up his photo and then got terrified of him.
Yeah, was a brass player I know how much those things can go for lmao!
Cries in the price of a new sousaphone
I feel like the first Rowley’s book should’ve had been like a retelling of the first book in Rowley’s pov for like a fun gimmick
oh, like that one twilight spinoff!
Hey ever after high pfp
27:50 i like to believe that greg is so used to his families dysfunction that seeing a genuinely healthy family relationship is too jarring and confusing for him to handle and that's why he calls for help.
Not a bad idea, that would explain why Greg is so a jrek to Rowley, he's too focused on his family that he hinders on Rowleys
Calling Greg a sociopath is a bit of an understatement.
Kid's a legitimate danger to society.
wouldn't be surprised if he started the iraq war or something
Idk man I feel like David from the No David! franchise has him beat here I was absolutely disgusted by his war crimes & how he was able to evade all consequences due to his insane manipulation skills.
@@ricniks4619i mean, david is a kid. he has a chance to grow out of at least some of it.
greg should know better
Not as bad as David from No David
Most kids are I have little siblings
One of my biggest childhood repressed memories was in 4th grade when one of my classmates vandalized my copy of DOAWK dog days so i took a page out of greg heffley's book and put a thumbtack on his seat like the spiked ball from Roderick rules
I still have not been caught to this day.
Im sorry Franklin.
You got great revenge
Honestly? fair
For real life
ill get you
How dare you do that to Greg Heffley dad 😂
What makes Gregory's character so great is that he's an a-hole and the books play it completely straight.
He's not some deep character analysis about the duality of man like many YT videos have you believe.
The worst thing Susan ever did was when Greg told her Rodrick said a curse word, and she asked what It was, so he spelled It out, only for her to punish him with a bar of soap In his mouth for knowing how to spell a curse word, while Rodrick got off scot free.
Hehe you said scot and your pfp is from Scott Pilgrim
For me it's when she killed Greg's angel fish
The most tragic part in that one Wimpy Kid book is when Rowley says “I’m not gay, Greg.” Then closes the door, causing Greg to sob. That book is a cinematic masterpiece, and that scene helps.
Just remember. It’s a Journal, not a diary 🗣️
It’s an ocean, not a lake
It's the sky, not a cloud.
Yes it is for real life
@@TheChad53 YES!!
@@LeoGaming55 SAM LAKE YOU HACK!
Worst to best with timestamps, you get the drill:
18. Old School (1:03:24)
17. Wrecking Ball (1:23:48)
16. The Deep End (1:33:28)
15. Big Shot (1:42:52)
14. Double Down (1:08:23)
13. The Long Haul (56:49)
12. The Getaway (1:13:24)
11. Diper Överlöde (1:50:57)
10. The Last Straw (17:35)
9. Cabin Fever (38:02)
8. The Meltdown (1:18:35)
7. No Brainer (1:55:13)
6. Rodrick Rules (10:14)
5. The Ugly Truth (32:52)
4. The Third Wheel (44:45)
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (3:04)
2. Dog Days (25:27)
1. Hard Luck (50:32)
EXTRA:
The Wimpy Kid Do-it-yourself Book (23:23)
The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (30:30)
Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid (1:28:35)
Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (1:37:55)
Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories (1:47:25)
For real life.
Fun Fact: Jeff Kinney came to my school back in primary school and in my classroom, a student asked how many books was he going to make (most recent book was hard luck) and Jeff said 10. Clearly we are past that
Now he's saying 20 will be the last one. We'll just see.
@@stormdoesgaming8919 Diary of a Wimpy Kid 20: Greg goes to hell
I would read that @@Masterchief0521
That little skit where Mark talked about the "Die" comic he made as a kid was hilarious and my favorite part of the video
If big Nate doesn’t make a cameo in the end credits in the next diary of a wimpy kid book ima riot.
I remember finding it really jarring when the Mingos, who first appeared in Hard Luck, reappeared in The Meltdown since side characters seem to essentially disappear after a while.
They hibernated.
I personally think that, with the exception of fairly odd parents, books and shows going on for so long always feel the need to bring in long forgotten side characters for new stories since the writer usually has long exhausted every other possible character in the main cast
Yeah one of the problems I kinda had with the DoAWK books going on is they always made up new kids instead of just reusing some random kid from an earlier book, unless a lot of people move in and out of his town I doubt there are that many kids he has to run into all the time
@@TheAlexSchmidt It's a fine line authors are walking between making the world feel inconsistent and large, and stagnant and small, with organic familiarity in the middle.
@@TheAlexSchmidtEhh, in the 16th one (the sports one) there are a lot of reused characters, they’re just kinda obscure
I work with kids from Elementary and Middle school, and I promise you that Diary of a Wimpy kid is still very popular. Almost as much as it was when I was their age
One of my friends lives down the street from the author’s bookstore. One night as I was driving her home she pointed out the light was on in the top floor of the bookstore and said, “Oh, Jeff must be writing!” Apparently her family has known him since before he started the series lol
Your friend lucked out lol.
What year was it?
@@dejus_e either late 2022 or early 2023
@@Rybread52 it’s probably no brainer he was writing
when you said "girlfriend-free boy" i was attacked by incredibly uncomfortable flashbacks to chris chan's mortifying time on the internet
Tell me why I'm stuck as a virgin with rage!
4:17 The fact that Kinney made something entertaining despite not having much a plot just makes the first DOWK that much more impressive
Originally Ugly Truth was supposed to be the last book, like season 3 Spongebob and the first movie, but the series just kept getting picked up.
That makes sense. Ugly Truth really has that, "finale" feel to it. I'd like to imagine that's where the story really ends.
I remember that Jeff announced that he wanted to step away but focus on his family.
But once his son was born, he wanted to write for him
@@ianbyrne465ugly truth is 🔥🔥 shoulda got a movie
Honestly, I think Hard Luck would have made a better finale
@@officialmonarchmusicthat was last grounded book before it started to go off the rails. The series should have ended there
They should’ve made Diary Of A Wimpy Kid The Ugly Truth movie because it was about growing up and puberty in 8th grade, and since the actors were growing up it could’ve been nice
It’s harder to do as a majority of the plot revolves around the falling out between Greg and Rowley, since the two were cool with each other at the end of the 3rd film it would be harder to hit those plot points
@@BlueBlazeKing right. Well, maybe instead of Hard Truth they could’ve done Cabin Fever, but I just can’t picture Movie Manny turning all the energy off from the house and taking everything with him
I also felt that they could’ve made just one more film
They should have made a prequel to the original trilogy adapting old school
@@excisable7993 they could've merged the ugly truth and cabin fever, like they did with the last straw and dog days
I remember my dad took my brother and I to see one of the movies, and for years he quoted the "Who put General GRANT on the THERMOSTAT?!" quote that the dad said. It got him into painting miniatures for a little while, though he preferred Roman soldiers.
I'm so glad I'm not the only person whose parent will quote a line from a movie until the end of time
I love how after the third book, the series just gave up on having each sequel progress through Greg’s middle school years, and from that point forward the story just exists in a perpetual present where no one grows older and nothing changes, solely because they knew they were going to make more sequels at that point, and didn’t want to leave middle school.
My theory is that Rowley has died several times through the book, but has the ability to reset time to prevent his own death. Every time he does it, it resets the clock, which is why they're still in middle school. Rowley fell off the big wheel and broke his neck, got poisoned by the cheese, got his burn infected, etc.
It doesn't make sense because Rowley eating the cheese is referenced in Rodrick Rules if not that some later book
Rowley did a Palpatine. He has multiple cloned bodies on standby and his parents transfer his soul into a new body,thus ensuring his immortality
@@newblue3256 i picked a timeline where he survives those scenarios.
bro is not kenny 😭
This series has been going on for almost 17 years and Greg is still in middle school.
I legit went through kindergarten to completing my bachelors degree with this kid in middle school
One could say, that could be the worst type of Hell anyone can ask for 😅
I think starting with Ugly Truth the ninth grade was morphed into the middle school, hence the start of the seeming eternity for Greg.
He's the Ash Ketchum of kid book series
because the time in the books is not the same as time in real life,the time in every book is connected almost immediately
NGL the cheese touche was the absolute BAIN of my existence in elementary school
cheese touché...
It got banned in my elementary school because one kid gave another the cheese touch so the second kid pushed the first kid off the monkey bars
@@ablondehoe damn that's crazy 🤣
My elementary school in 2009 had to have an entire fucking assembly to tell us to knock it off with the cheese touch because it was considered bullying 💀
@@opheliasgh0stme and some girl from elementary school replaced the “Cheese Touch” with the name of a student we didn’t like. Called it the [Name] Touch, and I won’t repeat the name because that kid got bullied for it and I am ashamed every day lmao
I swear alot of Mark's miscellaneous tirades and shit about being Irish are some of the best parts of these videos.
as a fellow N.I person, im agree
@@headmelter just say Irish dude. Or British. Saying NI is a copout
@@mulqueen2023Its literally just where he's from
@@mulqueen2023im no expert but maybe Northern Irish people and Irish people from the other regions want to make themselves distinct.
One of the bits from the books reminded me of when my 1st grade teacher had us make our own spin on The Three Little Pigs story.
In the middle of illustrating the story, I somehow misunderstood one of my teacher's directions as "They all have to die at the end." For some reason, I didn't question why that was apparently supposed to happen and just went with it.
In the end, we all stood up to present our stories and I remember panicking when the other kids' stories ended happily. So you can imagine how anxious I was when everyone started questioning why I had the three animals die at the end.
The teacher had to step in and tell everyone I could end the story any way I wanted, but either way, I was extremely stressed out in front of everyone that day.
1:31:43: Perhaps this should be the subject of its own video essay -- discussing comic relief-centered spin-offs and why you believe they don’t work, because I’ve always wondered why some comic relief characters (like Sheen, Kronk, and Rowley) don’t work as stand-alone protagonists, and why others (like the Madagascar Penguins, LEGO Batman, and Puss in Boots) seem to work just fine as the stars of their own shows and/or movies. Plus, there are certain side characters _I_ personally wish had their own shows, but fear that there may be a ton of arguments for why that would be a _terrible_ idea.
I dont think you want more Greg in Diper Overload. Every page including Greg in a book with Diaper in the title risks a reference to "Greg Hefley, Diaper Hand!"
I don't think you more Greg in diaper overload. Every page including Greg in a book with diaper in the title risk a reference to Greg Hefley, diaper hand!
For real life.
I don’t think you want more Greg in Diper Overload. Every page including Greg in the book with Diaper in the title risks a reference to “Greg Heffley, Diaper Hand!”
Glad I'm not the only psycho who owns almost every Diary of a Wimpy Kid book
i JUST marathoned reading them last year, so this feels kinda rewarding in a weird way
i own all except the original do it yourself and the 2nd movie diary
I did too, until I gave them away
I own the whole main series plus the Rowley spinoffs. I know I'm far too old for them now but dang it, I've still gotta buy the new one every year lol
Same
Wanted to just say Hard luck was always one of the books that I remember most, so seeing Mark agree that it was good was validating that I was remembering it for a good reason. I genuinely love the ending of him going to find the 8 ball and finding the egg with the ring, especially cause in an earlier drawing in the book you see that egg in the background in the spot it’s eventually found. Masterful attention to detail
If Jeff ever makes a book focused on Manny he has to call it “One Two Manny” or the world will burn
About Jeff not wanting Greg to go to high school, I think that could be pretty nice idea for a book. I can imagine everyone going to high school besides Greg, because he's apparently failing his classes, where the book just follows him doing anything in his power to graduate. Getting a tutor which I can imagine him being more interested in than studying, going to a hypnotist to help him study just to realize it's a scam, and sucking up to his teachers in hopes that his grades will improve. Would make a pretty good book if you ask me.
Also, to nobody's shock, the newest installment is a vacation 💀
It's strange how similar Diary of a Wimpy Kid's evolution is to The Simpsons. In both, you have a golden age of eight brilliant entries, a sudden decline, and then endless stagnation that feels like an entirely different series than the classic era you fell in love with.
Although the most recent season of the Simpson is at least better than the last several season as they acknowledge the show became stagnant, and have tried to differentiate it.
Eight? I like less than that
@@tachobrennerjust like the Simpsons homies can’t agree on the true golden age
@@squeedles_1943And they also can't agree on a decline.
Yeah, 8 was really the magic number, you get occasional great entries like 10 and 13 but mostly just less good. The REAL rot set in with book 16 onwards though
The shock on my face when you said TWENTY THREE books, I genuinely thought Old School was like the third or fourth to last and most people stopped reading them right around when I did, I can’t believe I barely made it halfway
for some reason it seems like Old School was most people's last (including mine), I wonder why that is?
@@spagootest2185I imagine it was the cutoff for most people because they grew out of the series by that point or because they felt the decline would continue and so they stopped buying before the books got really bad (if they were to continue the downward slide). I stopped getting Wimpy Kid books after Hard Luck (maybe Long Haul, can’t remember exactly) because I didn’t have interest in the series anymore given I was 11-12 and in middle school.
Theres 18 books in the main series but thats still a shit-ton of material
For real life.
Should’ve read the Movie Diary on The Long Haul. It’s actually really interesting to read knowing how much of a failure the movie was.
There’s so many entries in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, it feels more like a manifesto at this point. Especially with the picture it paints of Greg as a beaten-down, bitter, angsty pushover that’s just a hair away from snapping at any moment
Again, the biggest reason for the films success is that they knew the movies only had a limited amount of time with these characters so they could actually have them grow and change. Meanwhile in the books the characters never age and any book has to work as someone's first book in the series so aside from very minor things, the characters can never grow or change in any significant way.
Plot twist: the page at 1:06:57 wasn't a printing or editing error. That was Greg's true demon form unleashing itself from his façade of adolescent mortality.
When i was a kid, Hard Luck was always my favorite book. every single one of my friends disagreed with me, and the internet also wasn't the biggest fan of the entry either. I cannot express how much i feel validated by watching this video. great watch btw
It was my favorite book as a kid and we where good
Even as someone who read Hard Luck day one, I knew it was at least tied with Cabin Fever as my favorite, most people I knew seemed to like it a lot too
I think the best ending to the books would be that all of these stories are just slightly modernized versions of things Jeff actually did so Greg grows up to be the author of his own book.
I always thought DOWK would end with Greg becoming the author and just bring embarrassed about his hijinxs.
Thus deciding to turn them into these books.
Cool plot twist
In hard luck, there are literal Easter eggs hidden on almost every page. Super weird touch but interesting
How is that weird lol
@@noisnecsa995cos it’s a completely unique choice by jeff, doesn’t mean it’s bad at all though
The fact that this book series was so popular that many of us can remember playing the cheese touch game in elementary school is honestly impressive. These books were so funny when I was younger
I literally found out about the series through people playing cheese touch
@@noaht2005 that’s hilarious 💀
@@chickennuggetpaw My mum's a teacher, and when I tolder her about it she recognised it from the books her students had been reading
You mentioning Captain Underpands at 1:00:13 makes me want you to read and rank all of them now for no reason at all
^^^!! Plus the movie adaptation that came out a few years ago was unexpectedly phenomenally good
@@user-ti2ph6qb1ydon't forgot the somewhat decent animated series on Netflix
isnt it crazy that Harold is GAY!!!!
@@seva7500say what now-
Can’t wait to get to time travel and animal death
Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been out for so long that I wonder if people remember that it originally started off on Funbrain (owned by the people who made Poptropica!). That was some fun indoor recesses and computer lab time spent in school reading through all the pages.
I remember that website. Used to play there a lot and then got curious about the book they kept showing.
@@Pikmin442 Yes, well, actually, Jeff Kinney himself founded Poptropica.
The Wimpy kid books are truly the most peak forms of written literature ever
wait ur not the wimpy kid guy ur the creepypasta guy!!!!!!!!
Fire in the hole
Worth noting is that the early books in the Wimpy Kid series, especially the first three, are compilations of entries from the original 2004 web novel on FunBrain.
So part of the reason why they feel like a bunch of random excerpts without a major overarching plot is because they literally are.
Oh my God I thought I only read like 3 or 4 of these but as you went through the books I went insane because I remembered at least one major moment from every single one. I read ALL of these up until like, The Long Haul, I think? I genuinely, constantly think about the scary movie they watch, Greg in the womb, him finding the key in The Long Haul, Manny unplugging the power, etc etc etc.
Thinking back, as an autistic child, I 100% didn't get the point and related to Greg a ton and absolutely took after him. To this day, I will get intrusive thoughts that sound like a Greg scheme to get rich and/or famous. I finally have a place to blame my sociopathic tendencies! Thanks LS Mark!
I like to think every book has the same amount of pages because Greg is just buying the same blank diary over and over
His mom bought them. Why else would he pick “diary over and over again”
I heard a theory once that the reason basically boils down to the fact that his mom is buying the same brand of diary over and over which is why it always has the same number of pages + looks/feels almost identical each time
The problem with the newer books is that they’re always padding out the runtime with convoluted shenanigans and filler. The really good stuff doesn’t happen until the towards the end and then everything immediately goes back to normal at the last minute. I think serialization could be the right step to take the series in. It could keep people wanting more of the characters and it’s a great way to age with the people who read the books from day one. Plus, a lot of great book series are serialized these days such as the Last Kids on Earth or Dog Man.
Also sucks that Jeff is contractually binded to have all books the same page number and has a limit range of how the timeline of events should be in each book
I forgot Rowley's like, sad D: face is so funny to me
just the absolute despair in his face
I wonder if Mark knows that’s the kid who plays Greg in the live action Wimpy Kid Trilogy voices a character in Kingdom Hearts 3.
I rly liked this video mark, but now you have to read all of Big Nate😭😭
I heard someone say Greg will either be two things in life:
"A mobster or like one of the main characters on Seinfeld. But either way, people are going to hate him."
Which yeah… come to think of it, I think that’s a shockingly accurate way to describe Greg Heffley, even like a mobster. A good example that comes to mind is Tony Soprano.
Now I know people are gonna think that's ridiculous to compare Greg to Tony, but when you look at both characters, there's a lot similar about them both. Both have extremely toxic families, have such a warp perception of what being well-respected amongst their peers means, even coming to some types of epiphanies. Yet, when they do attempt to seek for any advice on something that they feel they’ve done wrong, they both end up falling victim to their numerous bad habits and behaviors, either due to external forces or their own misinterpretations of the lessons people try to teach both of them, therefore end up failing on taking any steps to change their ways.
Now I also compared Greg to someone in Seinfeld, to which I still stand by as when you do look at both the show and the book series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is basically the anti-young adult novel. To put into perspective before 2007, a lot of the average young-adult or children's literature usually tackled the typical teenage tropes you usually see. This is even something you'll notice on teen sitcoms too. But usually no matter what these teen characters got up to, they often found their way through it, with the help of their friends/family. With their stories ending on a general lesson for us (the audience) could walk away with. But then there's Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Including Greg himself, a lot of the characters are inconsiderate, ignorant, self-centered, narcissistic, or even sociopathic, like on Seinfeld. Almost nobody ever changes, including Greg. The fiascos that either he or his family get themselves in are usually brought about by their own egos and selfishness. And in almost each of the books, they usually don't end with a general life lesson. Yet, I'd argue that was meant to be the point, both the creators of Seinfeld and Wimpy Kid were trying to make. As because each had characters you shouldn't like, it doesn't matter if you don't like them. In fact, it'd be more funny if you didn't. You could say that Diary of Wimpy Kid, is meant to be a satirical look at traditional teen literature of the past. THE ANTI-YOUNG ADULT SERIES.
Can’t wait to watch you rank the Dork Diary books!!
I remember in like 6th grade all the boys in my class DESPISED the Dork Diary books. I mean they never were my thing either, I much prefer the DOAWK books (duh) but like this was a whole other level 😭 they tried to get those books out of the school library entirely
Nikki’s life is absolutely wild!
I kinda liked those a bit more than the Wimpy Kid books looking back....
Honestly I liked those way more because of the artstyle and because the main character wasn’t a complete psychopath 💀
@@Nic0Dr4ws
Yeah, I liked the artstyle too!
I actually really like how structureless the early books are. Not just because it makes sense for a kids diary, but it refreshing to not have everything have such a rigid structure
Im not gay greg
*door slam*
I like your pfp looks good 😊
_sits and sobs_
You know this is from fanfic, also this isn’t homophobic it’s a reference.
I’m not playing Fortnite with you Greg
This was that series I read all of in middle school, then I blinked to the end of high school and suddenly there were 30 books, two spin offs, three movies, and an audio drama staring Pete Wentz
38:32 I've read cabin fever so many times that this panel is literally seared into my brain like grill marks on a well cooked brain
Same
I swear to God you can get me to watch a multi hour video essay on literally any media franchise at this point. Im a 30 year old dude that was WAY too old to care about these when they came out back in the day, and yet here i am strapped in for the video
Never gonna forget how *absolutely viral* DOAWK went with my Year 2 class back in 2015. I must've started it from bringing The Ugly Truth to school and showing my classmates funny bits from it, and then they went on to binge the series and we all went mad seeing The Long Haul reach our library's shelves.
And it got that viral that our teacher banned us from saying anything from the book, as some of us were saying or doing things like starting from the book that would get us in trouble, like Cheese Touch and Water Touch, or saying dumb things from the book.
37:46 THAT unlocked so many memories I didn’t realize how much these books influenced me 😭
I can't wait to watch this one, I've been a huge Diary of a Wimpy kid fan for a long time and still collect the books. Also, I still haven't received a response from you regarding whether or not you want to make a brief cameo in a video I'm working on. Sorry to be so annoying but it would be great if I could just hear back from you on this.
I can't wait for LS Mark reviewing every single Dork Diaries book in the future.
Hearing Mark's stories makes me want a Diary of an Irish Lad book
Welp, there's a "Diary o a Wimpy Wean". It's as close-ish as it gets.
This is amazing! 😭
I love these books- honestly, I only started not liking em after The Meltdown™, aside from the last one I genuinely liked the Awesome Friendly series (and Old School is actually one of my favorites 😭)
You’ve mentioned “adult Greg Heffley” a lot, honestly I genuinely recommend “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: 25 Years Later”. The art is PHENOMENAL, and as goofy as the thought of a depressing DoaWK spinoff is, it’s actually really good 😭
The creator said they took inspiration from Bojack Horseman, and it definitely shines through!
I think the funniest part of this series is that Greg never even wanted the first diary, thinking it was a stupid idea. Then continues to buy 17+ more of them
Small corrections: In Dog Days, giving away the dog wasn't a punishment, but just because it was so dysfunctional. And he only wants Rowley's dad to lose his memories of the debt.
Here’s a fun fact about The Getaway: before it came out I went to a book store and they had a little pamphlet preview that took place right around the Airport segment, and the flight attendant is drawn differently. Not important at all and I sadly don’t have it anymore but still, kinda neat
Yooo this is hype!! I love this series!! Books were great and omg the original movies were so so SOOO good!! (I LOVED THE AUDIOBOOKS, I USE TO LISTEN TO THEM AS I WENT TO SLEEP!!)
People say he's a psychopath, and I mean I see that- But the way I see it is:
Greg is meant to be a twerp/self absorbed dork who thinks he's the maincharacter, and you sort of have to cheer for him when he does something good and grows up. He's egotistical, and the lovable part about him is you can see and laugh at how of a dumb kid he is. Sometimes seeing him do something bad and you realize "oh I did that before uh oh" makes him relatable, granted thats rare when he's constantly doing dumb crap lol!
My family stumbled on these books when my younger brother got the first one in a book catalogue he got at school. Despite the fact that there is an 8 year gap between him and my oldest brother, everyone loved the book. The dry humor appealed to us so much. Even my dad read them.
Honestly i agree that no brainer would have worked with ending with greg in slacksville....but then again i unironically laughed my ass off when greg remembering the incorrect latin from his sham latin teacher essentially caused the status quo reset .
no brainer was wild asf
everyone gangster until greg disrespects joshie 😭😔
As part of the population who read the books as a kid, I wanna bring up r/LodedDiper which has this type of fan work known as Looks Like Book or LLBs for short which take pages from each book and have them edited to form another story or with new pages drawn most.
Most famous example being 25 Years Later which has the line “I’m Not Gay Greg”
Imagine if Greg and Rowley read these LLBs
Also, I yearn for the day that we get an actual cartoon series instead of the mediocre movies they put out on Disney+
Greg and the Ballistic Missile is pretty famous too
I like the weird horror ones. Like the one where Greg gets tangled up in dark web red rooms
Ohhh... just wait 'til you see "Greg's No Nut November"!
The Vietnam one was wild
Dark Simpsons did it
The thing I always found funny about the movie diary is that to me, it always felt like DLC for the DVD. The DVD (or at least my copies) never had a behind the scenes video so this was the best I got to see what went on.
Hope you don't mind the info dump! I used to be heavily involved within the wimpy kid fandom back when the memes were huge and can answer some things briefly touched upon.
1. The dabbing kid in the Meltdown was already considered dated at the time of release. However, the unexpected quality of the book is considered a huge factor of the fandom's rise during that brief period of time.
2. Long Haul and Old school are considered the official reboots by Jeff Kinney, this could explain why those two books specifically feel different from the rest of the series. Meltdown is an unofficial reboot since it took away Old School's "no continuity" rule by bringing back many legacy characters and moments.
3. Greg was originally planned to actually move at the end of Wrecking Ball, which is why the ending feels rushed and possibly why it is so bare-bones.
4. Greg's kid book drawings in Wrecking Ball might be a reference to wimpy kid fanfics, in one interview Jeff said he found them "disturbing".
5. Double Down was part of a huge event, including the release of the musical, a UK Mcdonald's promotion, and more. It was meant to be back to basics to the first book which is why it's so over the place.
6. It's a common theory that the bad reception over Awesome Friendly Kid is why Greg acts nicer in newer books and the Disney movies.
7. There are examples of Jeff Kinney writing outside of Wimpy Kid. There's some rare books from the pizza hut book it program written by him. They are just wimpy kid with another flavor though.
I really hope mark does this with other book series or at least talks about them at some point. It'd be really interesting to see his perspective on franchises like captian underpants, bone and big nate.
The last straw is called that because that’s the last straw that his dad is putting up with until he sends him to military school
A ranking on the diary of a wimpy kid? Never though I’d see one with my own eyes
I think a reboot story of Greg as like a construction worker or whatever would work greatly. You could focus more on slightly more adult issues while keeping lighthearted.
Great video, and I want to see all three movies after watching it, so you did your job…also, tell Wench I said hi.
I think a great ending for diary of a winpy kid would be a flash forward to greg and rowley being in their thirties looking more like their fathers just sharing a moment showing how even though greg isnt some multimillionaire he still enjoys the man he had become
The memory flashbang I got when you describe him going downstairs and emailing his mom from Rowley’s dads email, and her being creeped out because, ya know, it’s her son’s friend’s dad.
I remember my mom buying a boxed set of the first five books at the book fair years ago. I remember having Third Wheel seperately though and getting uncomfortable with all the womb shit.
Good content, Mark. Love what you do!
Something about your plushie sliding onto the scene with a stone movement sound is way funnier than it should be
also cool another video to fall asleep too, thanks Mark :D
28:23 I know Mark isn't religious but this whole sentiment was like, the most Irish I've ever heard him get.
How do you know he isn’t religious?
@@nostalgialodeon9305 I might potentially be misremembering this but I know he talked about on his podcast Meeting Halfway when they were talking about Death and Bababooey.
Whoever chose the Excelsior OST Utero track for the Third Wheel section is a true connoisseur, caught me so off guard holy shit. I dunno how much overlap there is for Isaac players who listen to Fiend Folio’s OST and LS Mark viewers is but I just want you to know that at least one person noticed and I thought it was really cool
One thing that always bothered me is that I have no idea how a literal toddler knew how a fuse box worked and how he never got punished for shutting off power to the rest of the house and taking all the food
Its manny's world, everyone else just lives in it.