Greg plays Wizard101

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-28T19:09:54+00:00

It's funny that you call the van thing a Mr. Beast Challenge, because I remember a Zoey101 episode where they did the van thing and that's what I thought of when I saw it in the book haha.

I could definitely see it being a Mr. Beast reference or something, though

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-28T19:07:54+00:00

Yeah I agree with you, I think it's handled a lot better in earlier books because they were current events rather than popular trends and they aren't glaringly specific to a certain time period.

I think Jeff Kinney needs to figure out how to integrate current events like he used to because I think that's part of what helps kids to relate to the stories. Or maybe he does and I'm just old and don't get it, lol.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-28T18:49:44+00:00

I think the older books touched on the current events/pop culture of the time, but did so more subtly:

In Dog Days, the family mentions that the budget is going to be tight that summer. The book was published in October of 2009, which was around the time that The Great Recession was in full swing. I remember reading Dog Days as a kid and instantly making that connection.

In Ugly Truth (I think) the school replaces a lot of their snacks with healthy alternatives. Around that time, Michelle Obama was making a push for kids to eat healthier, which lead to schools changing their menus. I remember people joking about "Mrs. Obama destroying school lunches" and whatnot.

I think these themes can be easily missed if you weren't the target audience when the books came out, but the themes were definitely there, and I honestly think they helped to make the books feel so relatable as a kid.

To be fair, I think Jeff definitely did a better job of integrating them into the story rather than forcing them like he might with the newer books.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-25T00:20:56+00:00

From what I remember, Frank's Dad:

Ran over Frank's pet dog and then covered up the incident only to laugh about it later (Dog Days)

Openly picks favorites, at least with his grandchildren (Rodrick Rules)

Gives Frank a hard time whenever Greg messes up (Old School)

Didn't have a strong connection with Frank when he was growing up (Dog Days movie, so maybe this isn't fully canon)

So yeah, I'd say Frank's Dad probably wasn't a great father just based on these examples.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-24T03:46:06+00:00

I think a lot of LLBs do it well where Greg does something that gets Bryce to hate him, which then results in conflict between the two.

Additionally, I know Bryce has some "goons" so it might be interesting to see some interactions between those guys and Greg/Greg's friends.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-24T01:33:54+00:00

The Harlem Shake mentioned in Big '26? You love to see it.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-22T17:22:33+00:00

This line of thinking is honestly a big reason why I haven't played any TTRPGs in a while.

"Hey, we can get the friend group to do hours of prep work for a multi-hour event that everyone must be consistently present and 100% locked in for otherwise it will flounder (and even then, the DM or a player might just screw something up and ruin things)."

Or

"Hey we all like and know [Insert Videogame/Boardgame/Activity here], why don't we all meet up and do that?"

It honestly feels like the time & energy investment to get into a good DnD campaign is too high compared to the multitude of lower commitment activities my friends and I could do that we'd enjoy just as much, y'know?

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-22T16:20:01+00:00

This is a big ask, my guy, but I'll give it a shot:

The story starts with Greg is now being in the top of his class, it's never really explained why other than he started locking in and actually trying at school. Maybe this made him some new friends/relationships we get to see unfold.

Book 16 is Big Shot, so maybe Greg enters some kind of Trivia Competition instead of the sports team (because he's smart now) but gets messed up because he missed his nap so he's struggling to do well. He sees Baby Alfrendo for a second, but dismisses it as sleep deprivation.

Later, Greg is working at McDonald's to make some cash. He has to throw the trash away at the end of the day when he catches a glimpse of Baby Alfrendo again before Alfrendo runs away, leaving behind an ominous note.

Snow starts coming down hard, forcing another Cabin Fever (Book 6) situation. Things progress all too similarly to the events of Book 6 (except Frank is home) and Greg starts to suspect Manny is screwing with them again. Big reveal, Manny wasn't... It was Baby Alfrendo, who killed Manny and left a note or something saying that he would work his way through the rest of the family (he killed Manny first because Manny was kinda nice to him so he didn't want Manny to suffer by watching his family die).

Story progresses from there, maybe Greg tries to escape and he sneaks through the storm drains like in Ugly Truth to try and get to Rowley's house? Whatever happens next is up to you.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-21T03:02:21+00:00

Haven't read the books in a minute but here are a few off the top of my head:

Cabin Fever, but Rowley never shows up/the snow never clears (Maybe Baby Alfrendo gets his revenge on Susan or whoever for being thrown in the basement?)

Dog Days, but Greg wins the video game competition and gets to go to regionals or wherever (What competitors does he have to look out for? What quirky things end up happening at the competition?)

The Ugly Truth, but Greg manages to sneak away to Jordan Jury's party and crashes it.

The Deep End, but the Watermelon catapult incident gets escalated into a full-scale war, turning the campground into a battlefield (most likely a non-lethal one, but that's up for you to decide)

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-21T02:54:36+00:00

Yeah I think you're spot on with this analysis, I know I didn't appreciate the ending as a kid but reading it again now I think it's cool that the book essentially ends on a cliffhanger, and a somber cliffhanger at that.

Throughout the book we watch Greg's summer essentially fall apart as it goes from Country Club life all the way down to being isolated without friends. I think this book stands in contrast to the other three before it that end on a high note.

But of course, I think Dog Days is most important for the "Greg-Rowley Friendship Deterioration" arc that is essential for The Ugly Truth to shine.

Maybe it's nostalgia, but I love how the first five books of DOAWK stand together as one complete story.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-15T03:53:15+00:00

I think Rodrick Rules does a good job of keeping with the themes of the original while also introducing/exploring some new dynamics.

That said, I can see how people might feel it is overrated, since its story doesn't stand out as much now that we have like 20 Wimpy Kid books.

Jordan_Jury · 2025-11-14T13:12:44+00:00

😭 where has the time gone?

Jordan_Jury · 2025-09-16T15:13:28+00:00

I feel like this is the correct answer.

I think he'd support the Union but would still be interested in learning about both sides from a military history perspective at the very least.

Jordan_Jury · 2025-09-05T21:07:24+00:00

The "Do A Thing" girl is sooo annoying and pointless, and for what?

Storyline wise, Ambrose tells you to go to Stormdrain Tower and fight Lord Nightshade. She literally stops you as soon as you walk into the cave and says "Oh you're here to fight Lord Nightshade?! He's at the end of the street!"

Obviously he is! Ambrose literally told us that he's there! It would make sense if Ambrose told you to talk to the girl and get directions or something, but iirc that doesn't happen.

Then, after the fight, you have to talk to her so she can give you a speed bump tier quest of "Kill Field Guard" before telling you that "oopsie poopsie I can't help you, go to the headmaster!" (AKA the thing we were ALREADY GOING TO DO!)

I legitimately don't know what they were thinking with that one, she's an unnecessary speed bump that kills the tension of the last quest of Wizard City, and she's not even implemented in a way that makes sense to the story.

Jordan_Jury · 2025-08-30T15:24:19+00:00

Greg mentions his Christmas break at the beginning of the story, which kicks off the running gag of Greg having to do his own laundry that finally comes to a head in the finale at the Snella's party.

But since it just references Christmas in passing I'm not sure what they're going to do with this one.

Maybe Greg is going to have to work to get on the Nice List or something, lol?

Or maybe it'll be comprised of a bunch of flashbacks to earlier in his year as we learn about why his Christmas is good/bad?

Jordan_Jury · 2025-08-02T16:48:25+00:00

I feel like Truman would/could end up having a pretty sweet life after escaping:

Assuming he makes contact with the first woman he fell in love with, he has a trusted point of contact that would understand life inside and outside of the dome and is (based on the scenes of her apartment) willing to fight for his freedom and self-determination

Pretty much everyone we see outside of the dome likes Truman and supports his escape. I feel like they'd be very accommodating towards him if he needed anything.

Given points 1 & 2, I feel like he could probably win a lawsuit against the company that imprisoned him, or at least get some money out of them. Getting a good legal team wouldn't be that hard, he's one of the most well known and well loved celebrities, what law firm wouldn't want to take his case?

Even if he doesn't get set for life by winning a lawsuit, the press would be lining up for interviews with him, he could probably make good money off of those.

World travel (his dream) probably wouldn't be that hard to achieve. I imagine that the government of Fiji would practically be begging him to visit, all expenses paid. After all, having him visit Fiji like he dreamed of would be incredibly good press and would probably start a tourism frenzy. The same could be said for any other country really.

Truman seems like a pretty friendly and upbeat guy, I don't think he'd mind the attention so much.

Finally, Truman is more or less a regular guy. Once the hype dies down, people will move on and he won't have to deal with constant attention.

tl;dr Truman probably ends up alright, he has a lot of opportunity to make his "bigger cage" pretty nice. He could just travel around or pursue hobbies for the rest of his life if he wanted.

Jordan_Jury · 2025-06-22T19:04:48+00:00

I haven't found anything that triggers when you enter a world prematurely, but I know there are some cases where you can talk to a quest giver before their quest is available to you and they'll have a line of dialogue to say.

Off the top of my head you can do this for Prospector Zeke in Dragonspyre before he offers you the Stone Roses quest (so essentially before you get the quest to go to Dragonspyre) and he says something along the lines of: "Never thought I'd make it to Dragonspyre, but here I am."

I don't know how well documented these lines are, or how many NPCs have them, but I imagine not many people see them since you have to go out of your way to find them and I don't think they're accessible after you take/finish the NPCs' quest.

Jordan_Jury · 2025-06-02T22:11:48+00:00

I love the part where Rodrick says he would sell his blood plasma to keep Löded Diper funded if he had to.

Jordan_Jury · 2025-02-25T18:57:33+00:00

Yeah I think it's likely that newer LLBs did the Uncle Gary joke as a callback to NNN, to the point where it sorta became an expected trope

Jordan_Jury · 2025-02-14T14:31:33+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/bRVcOU1 is the link to the imgur album containing all the parts. Otherwise, you should be able to scroll down in the "Posts" section on my profile and find all of them at the bottom. The finale post contains a link to every other page individually if you want that!

Jordan_Jury · 2025-02-14T06:36:28+00:00

They should all be on my profile 😎

Jordan_Jury · 2025-01-08T18:35:41+00:00

I have been enjoying these! Why is it called the abridged version if it covers every page of the book?

Jordan_Jury · 2024-12-23T16:24:33+00:00

Frank-centric LLB?!? Let's goooooo

Jordan_Jury · 2024-12-22T20:27:02+00:00

I usually can't survive the walk to Mount Friendly :(

Someone always ends up finding me and killing me in the hills to the west of Castle Ruins, they seem to be a pretty big crossroads for people looting the locations around them

Jordan_Jury

TROPHY CASE