History Characters / DiaryOfAWimpyKid

** In ''Hard Luck'', he complains about Rowley, who is always hanging out with his new girlfriend Abigail, and basically says that he misses Rowley's friendship because he misses Rowley [[ItsAllAboutMe doing things for him]], like carrying all of Greg's books when they're walking to school (he even describes Rowley as a "pack animal"). And then he says, "Unfortunately, Rowley is just as willing to help Abigail with ''her'' books, which makes me think the only reason she's even with him is to ''use'' him". It doesn't help that he actually tries to use Fregley to mold him into another Rowley (luckily, that backfires).

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Downplayed, but despite his hostile treatment of Greg he has an entirely positive relationship with his family unlike Greg's parents.

* SirSwearsALot: Implied to be this in The Last Straw.

* EasilyEmbarrassedYoungster: Let's just say Greg is '''very''' easily embarrassed which is bad for a kid who has AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents, a BigBrotherBully, and is the franchise's ButtMonkey.

* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Downplayed in the movies (which gives Holly more screen time) but Greg is noticeably much snarkier and more cynical than the overly-friendly and cheerful Holly Hills.

* TookALevelInDumbass: In the latest books it's noticeable that Rodrick has gone from simple being BookDumb because he's "Too cool for school" [[BrilliantButLazy but clever when it comes to teasing Greg]] to being a complete idiot who thinks you can get bacon from pigs the same way you get eggs from chickens, and thinks [[ItMakesSenseInContext his brain exploded when he had cinnamon bun dough all over him]]. That said, his embarrassing essay about "The Earth A Hundred Years Ago" makes it pretty clear since the second book (and movie) that he's not a smart guy.

** In "Diper Överlöde," he has balls to get angry at Greg when he himself forgets to bring his drumsticks as Greg is the roadie even though he never told Greg to carry the drumsticks and he himself should always remember to bring his instruments.

* CasanovaWannabe: The movies give him this trait. He tries to flirt with girls at his party, who are clearly off-put by him, and his efforts to win over Heather Hills are comically bad. When he tries to give Greg advice about Holly in the second film, he has this to say:

* BerserkButton: Never let him catch you in his room uninvited. Greg reveals in "The Last Straw" that Rodrick gets really mad whenever he catches him messing around in the basement, and the first movie has chasing down Greg with clearly ill intentions after discovering him and Rowley reading his old yearbook there.

* ObsessivelyOrganized: With his food. Never give him a sandwich cut in halves (quarters instead); only eats hotdogs with a short line of mustard applied in the middle; poured milk in the bowl first before cereal and he will throw a tantrum.

** Initially, Susan’s insistence that he’s smart for his age comes off as her justifying his behavior. In later books, Manny is a ChildProdigy who can speak conversational Spanish fluently by listening to a CD for all of five minutes, building a house, and hacking into electronics.

** While Manny was prone to odd behaviors as far back as the first book, these were either him ObfuscatingStupidity to mess with people or were just simply him behaving like the child he was. In later books, Manny is unable to speak in a coherent sentence and engages in completely crazy acts like trying to climb down a toilet or trying to keep a box jellyfish as a pet.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Manny is Rodrick and Greg's younger brother, who gets his way no matter what. Their mother even drives to Manny's preschool just to cut his sandwich because it wasn't how he wanted.

* AdaptationalKarma: [[spoiler:[[KarmaHoudini Where his book version got away with hoarding the family's food and supplies]] in ''Cabin Fever'' and left them a feezing mess in the original, Manny notably didn't luck out in its AnimatedAdaptation, where the family discover he's behind the theft of all their resources and he is taped to his car seat as punishment.]]

* NearlyNormalAnimal: Can't talk, but seems to be able to stand on his hind legs and possesses greater intelligence than one would expect from a pig.

* TerribleArtist: When Susan makes him and Greg do a "Summit" (a punishment that involves drawing pictures of a bad thing they did), Rodrick draws a crude stick-figure picture of himself shoving Greg off a cliff into shark-infested water.

* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: She runs a parenting advice column in the newspaper, but is completely ineffective at disciplining any of her children, especially Manny. It does not help that she tries to use methods meant for preschoolers to discipline her older sons, one being middle school age and the other high school age.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Greg is probably the unluckiest hero in kid literature, but even he has something good happen to him every now and then.

->'''Played by:''' Creator/ZacharyGordon (first three movies), Creator/JasonDrucker (''The Long Haul''), BradyNoon (2021 film)

->'''Played by:''' Creator/RobertCapron (first three movies), Creator/OwenAsztalos (''The Long Haul''), Ethan William Childress (2021 film)

->'''Played by:''' Creator/FranKranz

* JerkassWoobie: Greg is far from the nicest person you'll ever meet-lazy, selfish, and taking delight in tormenting others-but in between [[{{MyBelovedSmother}} his mother's treatment of him,]] [[{{BigBrotherBully}} Rodrick's delight in tormenting him,]] and everything else wrong with his family ([[{{DysfunctionalFamily}} which is A LOT]]) it's easy to under stand how he turned out the way he did.

* JerkassWoobie: Greg is far from the nicest person you'll ever meet-lazy, selfish, and taking delight in tormenting others-but in between [[{{MyBelovedSmother}} his mothers treatment of him,]] [[{{BigBrotherBully}} Rodrick's delight in tormenting him,]] and everything else wrong with his family ([[{{DysfunctionalFamily}}which is A LOT]]) it's easy to under stand how he turned out the way he did.

* JerkassWoobie: Greg is far from the nicest person you'll ever meet-lazy, selfish, and taking delight in tormenting others-but in between [[{{MyBelovedSmother}} his mothers treatment of him,]] [[{{BigBrotherBully}} Rodrick's delight in tormenting him,]] and everything else wrong with his family ([[{{which is A LOT}}]]) it's easy to under stand how he turned out the way he did.

* {{Hypocrite}}: One of his many flaws.
** In ''Hard Luck'', he complains about Rowley who is always hanging out with his new girlfriend Abigail, and basically says that he misses Rowley's friendship because he misses Rowley [[ItsAllAboutMe doing things for him]], like carrying all of Greg's books when they're walking to school (he even describes Rowley as a "pack animal"). And then he says "Unfortunately, Rowley is just as willing to help Abigail with HER books, which makes me think the only reason she's even with him is to USE him". It doesn’t help that he actually tries to use Fregley to mold him into another Rowley (luckily, that backfires).
** Also in ''Hard Luck'', he is disappointed in his schoolmates gaming the "Hero Points" program with counterfeit notes, which ends up with the program canceled, but he did more or less the exact same thing in ''Rodrick Rules'' (with the exact same end result). Of course, the difference, in that case, was that ''[[MoralMyopia he]]'' [[MoralMyopia was the one trying to game the system]].

** He tends to frequently bring up how dysfunctional his family is, especially his brothers while making it seem like he's the only normal one in the family. But as ''Diary of An Awesome Friendly Kid'' shows, Greg is actually just as dysfunctional as his family is.

* AdaptationalKarma: In ''Rodrick Rules'', while Susan did find out about "The Invisible Chirag" joke and forced Greg to apologize, [[KarmaHoudini he still got off pretty lightly and even twisted his mother's]] [[BrutalHonesty Brutal Honesty-]][[KarmaHoudini inflicted punishment to his advantage, forcing Susan to call it off.]] The movie, however, has Chirag actually get the last laugh by tricking Greg into acknowledging him and having a bunch of kids laugh at him.

** While Greg isn't the smartest, he becomes dumber with more ridiculous beliefs as the series progresses, such as assuming his parents are robots when he hears one needing to "recharging our batteries."

* {{Flanderization}}: Susan was always oblivious to what teenagers enjoy and embarrassed Greg constantly, but only out of love, and was only stern when the situation called for it. ''The Long Haul'' turns her into someone who doesn't care what anyone else thinks about her family activities and forces the entire family to participate (against their will) to go on an ill-advised road trip. Also, her mild skepticism of modern technology turns into a pathological hatred of it, using a petition to force the town into giving it up for a weekend and making the family abandon technology whenever she can.
** She has become increasingly selfish, with her selfishness also manifesting as hypocrisy, as she used electronics despite calling for the town to go electronics-free, which even Greg calls out. In ''Big Shot'', she turns her own son, Greg, over to the rival team to relive her glory days of her team not winning due to her lack of faith in Greg.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Downplayed since he himself can be foolish too but Greg is noticeably [[OnlySaneMan more saner]] and [[MatureYoungerSibling mature]] than [[DumbassTeenageSon Rodrick]].