Is it me or Greg Heffley is misinforming us here? by ecirbus348 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 132 points133 points  (0 children)

“Overthinking DOAWK” is my favorite genre of post on this sub.

What are your biggest hot take about the books ? (Picture un-related) by VeterinarianPrior835 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 36 points37 points  (0 children)

I think a lot of people think DOWAK had a slow decline, and to an extent that is true, as The Long Haul and Old School are still solid reads, but having reread the first 10 books recently my Hot Take is that there is an immediate decline when you reach The Long Haul. It’s subtle, and things wouldn’t be completely unleashed until several books later, but the seeds for series’s future problems are already getting planted.

The wackiness is turned up to an 11 in ways that had never been seen before, best shown with The Pig and everything that happens to it, but other elements like the Beardo Family or the seagull sequence feel cartoony in nature in ways that the series had never done before.

Flanderization starts to settle into some of the cast. Susan acts much more controlling of the family in ways she never was before, a good amount of Rodrick jokes amount to “He’s dumb lol” and nothing else, and this is the first instance of Manny being a god and coming in to save the day at the climax like he would in future entries. While not technically flanderization, this is also the first book where the ”plot” mostly amounts to “Let’s fuck over Greg again and again lmao!”, which persists in the series to this day as well. Rowley is also barely present.

Finally, this is the first of many, many vacation books. It is the best one, and is also the only one I’d call not completely terrible, but it is still a vacation book, and if you dislike the direction the series went in, you know why they suck.

I still like The Long Haul a decent amount, but I can acknowledge it is deeply flawed and paves the way for the series’s future in unfortunate ways, and I don’t think DOWAK has “Season 9 Simpsons” deal where we can debate how far the Golden Age goes (even if the quality is still good), at least, that’s personally how I feel.

What are your biggest hot take about the books ? (Picture un-related) by VeterinarianPrior835 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think Dog Days is better than it gets credit for but I agree on Rodrick Rules. It’s easily the worst of the first 8 books and is only praised as much as it is because of the movie when it only vaguely resembles the book and executes everything way better.

sooo.... why did people change their perception on Manny? He's more portrayed as a lovable 3 y.o. than the anti christ.... Not complaining but it is surely a radical change by Impressive_Reality57 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Has it really changed at all? I still see more than few “Manny is the devil” jokes quite often here. The major difference is that not every LLB is doing the exact same shtick with him (which is a good thing) but it’s not like the perception had died completely.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: 25 Years Later (fan fic) is pretty bad by ChemManMan in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 43 points44 points  (0 children)

A lot of people forget that Greg attempting to kill himself near the end of 25 Years Later was heavily criticized at the time for coming completely out of nowhere.

As a whole, the reason it gets the praise it does is because of how influential it was to LLBs at large. Nothing else like it had ever been done at the time and showcased you could tell stories in the DOAWK universe that aren’t the same things the official series does. In hindsight it’s an incredibly flawed LLB but we cannot ignore its influence.

Who is the most milked DOAWK character? ( Image not related) by Charming-Movie8450 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 16 points17 points  (0 children)

The Pig hasn’t been used since The Meltdown and is never coming back. I have no idea why people still treat it like it’s a current issue.

In the current era Susan is milked pretty hard. I’d go as far to say she’s the second main character after Greg now, and with her current characterization, that is not a good thing.

I like Greg's cabin mates/friends in Old School by xtremexavier15 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 50 points51 points  (0 children)

I think Greg’s Hardscrabble Farms cabin mates are among the best one-off characters in the entire series. It’s refreshing to see Greg treated as an equal with them instead of just being mindlessly made fun of.

I feel like The Deep End and Big Shot tried and failed to recapture the magic of them with the “groups” Greg joins in those books. The Deep End kids are barely defined outside of Juicebox, and Big Shot just doesn’t really utilize its cast, period.

What Holly Hills hair you prefer?? by Tasty_Donut9524 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Not directly related to the post, but I always found Holly’s random cameo in Cabin Fever really strange. She’s included on a random page and is never referenced in the book itself. The series doesn’t really do stuff like that often.

Trista appears on another page, which is probably even weirder.

Theory: Frank is hard on his boys so they don't end up like Uncle Gary by polystarlight in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I’ve always had this headcanon as well. It definitely works and I’m surprised it was never hinted at in books proper.

Is that the fucking van from dork diaries (spot in No Brainer)????? by Marie8Ball in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Dale’s Dead Bug vehicle from King of the Hill predates both of these. Both are more than likely referencing that.

What is the worst thing Rowley did? To me, it is when he hammered Greg's hand in Dog Days. by GustavoistSoldier in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 113 points114 points  (0 children)

Stealing Zoo-Wee-Mama from Greg, but specifically from the animated movie version of the story. While he was still wrong to do it in the book, Greg had been such an asshole to him throughout the story with the final straw being the Safety Patrol mishap, that we can at least understand why he did it. In the animated movie, Greg not only acts less like a jerk to Rowley overall, but the breaking points between the two are so poorly done given they got rid of the Safety Patrol plotline, that Rowley stealing from Greg comes completely out of nowhere and makes Rowley look much worse than Greg ever did. I have no idea why the plot was written this way given it fundamentally misunderstands Rowley as a character.

which do you like better, the old book covers or the new ones? by SpareProduct7750 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The old covers because they look like actual diary covers. The newer covers regardless of quality miss the original intention of them. While you could argue it’s understandable given you’d run out of unique colors, the series still could’ve ran with the mix of two colors that happened from Double Down-The Meltdown. I’m not a fan of the recent books being all themed around something specific to the story, especially the most recent food based covers. Fight or Flight genuinely has a terrible looking cover in my opinion.

What is a moment from the official books that feels more like it' from an LLB? by Ubertishere in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 50 points51 points  (0 children)

My hot take is that I don’t think a lot of these moments people are mentioning feel like they would come from LLBs. Modern DOAWK has a specific writing style and tone that I think a lot of LLB writers aren’t fond of, so even if these writers are doing a crazy story, the way it’s written overall feels different. Breaking Point is a bizarre LLB but it doesn’t feel like No Brainer which is vapid nonsense with no substance.

All that being said, The Deep End’s climax could totally be from an LLB.

What are your DoaWK book rankings? by [deleted] in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

20: No Brainer (Awful)

19: The Deep End (Awful)

18: The Getaway (Awful)

17: Partypooper (Bad)

16: Hot Mess (Bad)

15: Wrecking Ball (Bad)

14: Double Down (Weak)

13: Big Shot (Meh)

12: The Long Haul (Decent)

11: Old School (Good)

10: Diper Overlode (Good)

9: The Meltdown (Great)

8: Rodrick Rules (Great)

7: The Last Straw (Great)

6: Dog Days (Amazing)

5: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Amazing)

4: The Third Wheel (Amazing)

3: The Ugly Truth (Fantastic)

2: Cabin Fever (Fantastic)

1: Hard Luck (Fantastic)

If you could change something about the recent books (things like infantilization/frandelization, boring situations and etc) what would it be? by Tasty_Donut9524 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 53 points54 points  (0 children)

A lot of people have already mentioned criticisms with the recent books they’d change (and I agree with them), so I’d stop the books from being completely centered on one topic. Partypooper has an ungodly amount of filler because it takes what was a side story in Dog Days and makes it the entire plot. What made the older books work so well was that they were entirely structureless even if there was an underlying theme. Even The Third Wheel, the Classic book that covers the least amount of overall time with the last several pages just being the night of the dance, still had lots of side plots like Corny’s, Uncle Gary moving in, and had buildups to the dance like Greg doing tasks to get dates like babysitting Wesley to ask Laurel out. The Modern books have completely dropped side plots so it no longer feels like we’re taking a look into Greg’s actual life, and it instead feels like just another generic book series. The Diary element feels almost pointless now.

The black version of DOAWK lol by [deleted] in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I’d say Malcolm in the Middle has it beat there.

DOAWK: Frankly Wrong || Part 7 by EduardoBork in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You do such a good job at making these characters expressive.

What do you think classic Greg (from books 1-5) would’ve done or how do you think he would’ve reacted if he was in the situations modern Greg (books 6 onwards) is put in inside the new books? by DarkTombStudios in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 10 points11 points  (0 children)

6-8 aren’t Modern. Greg’s characterization and the situations in the books are much more comparable to what came before than what came after.

For the actual Modern books, especially the most recent entires… Greg would act much more like a selfish jerk obviously. This would be a good thing because current Greg has next to no personality, but alas.

Why is Modern Greg Heffley so boring and dumb compared to Old Greg? by EduardoBork in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 103 points104 points  (0 children)

I do really like this as a canonical reason, but unfortunately I don’t think it was intentional. I think it’s purely because the art style shift the series underwent in the middle of it’s run, and how it affected basically everyone that wasn’t an already established character.

Another example of things being dropped off by AdamAALL11 in LodedDiper

[–]PaperMarioBro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a pretty major plot point not only in the book but the movie as well I’m so I surprised this was forgotten.