- Ass Pull: Part 20 reveals that Greg survived his apparent suicide, and the newspaper article claiming he was dead was just sloppy journalism. It wasn't foreshadowed in any way and doesn't explain why Greg's friends and family didn't bother to check if he was still alive.
- Memetic Mutation: Parts 9-10 due to Rowley's infamous one-liner:Rowley: I'm not gay, Greg.
- Changing the text in the scene where Fregley gives Greg some advice about losing others has become popular.
- Moral Event Horizon: Manny lighting his dad's grave on fire is framed in this light, leaving Greg feeling sick and vowing not to turn out like him. Granted, given the framing of Frank's nature towards his kids in this take, not to mention how he was shown being treated by both him and Rodrick for cutting ties with the dysfunctional Heffley family earlier, some readers might see it as a cathartic scene instead.
- Narm: Despite the horrible situations described, Greg still seems to feel the need to fully illustrate all of them in the same art style that he used as a child, which somewhat lessens their seriousness and impact. This is especially true of the "I'm not gay, Greg" scene, which should be an emotionally devastating moment...but the childish art style, pacing, and Greg's crying being represented as a Written Sound Effect (which is the standard of the original books) make it look like a surreal joke, hence why it became memetic. The art style can be excused if Greg never had the time to improve his art skills in the past 25 years.
- Realism-Induced Horror: Many people who've grown up on the books have commented on how disturbing the fanfic is (see the comments on this fandub
for examples), not by being edgy or over-the-topnote but due to its surprisingly accurate take on loss of innocence and crumbling dreams.- The cartoony artstyle and embarrassing situations from the books remain, but the childlike worldview and the inherent comedy in those embarassing situations has given way to the monotony of daily life, attempts by Greg to build off his childhood (wanting to work at the company that made his favorite games and admitting his crush on his childhood friend) all fall apart, there are horrible things that all people deal with later in life like the death of a family member (who was also a major character in the original series)note , and the embarrassing situations are treated seriously and all have serious knocks on Greg's will to live.
- Parts of the original books like Fregley's "weirdness" or Frank's meanness and wish to "toughen up" Greg are brought up and recontextualized in extremely dark fashions (Fregley with having a highly abusive father, and Frank being revealed to be extremely homophobic), all of which further strengthens the idea that something like this could totally happen in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid-verse, despite the series being completely told through Greg's childlike viewpoint.
- Tear Jerker: Part 19, a newspaper article about Greg's suicide. Rowley makes a statement praising Greg and expressing regret for not "exploring" their "very complex relationship" more. He's also made a Zoo-Wee Mama! strip about the first time he met Greg as a tribute to him. Susan is too distraught for words, and Rodrick only says, "I only wish he would have talked to me about it", which is made more heartbreaking by the fact that one of Greg's last decisions before his suicide was choosing not to talk to Rodrick because he was afraid of screwing up Rodrick's happy life. To add to this, look in the corner of the page. The article was written by Holly Hills.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/DiaryOfAWimpyKid25YearsLater
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