| NOTE: This article is only about Greg Heffley's book counterpart, therefore only his reception in the original books should be listed. |
Gregory "Greg" Heffley is the main protagonist of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series.
What Makes Him a Base Breaking Character?[]
What Do People Like About Him?[]
- Many like his relatable views on reality while being a middle school student.
- Many fans find him to be funny and believe his mean-spirited qualities add great black comedy to the books.
- Despite being a jerk most of the time, fans are willing to admit that he does still show positive qualities such as hiding his family's ring to prevent a fight, comforting Rowley during a bad breakup and letting himself get punished for vandalizing the shed rather than snitching on Rowley for accompanying him.
- His defenders think his jerkish behavior is the one of a normal teen, and consider him being labeled as a sociopath as an exaggeration and incorrect statement.
What Do People Hate About Him?[]
- While he was deliberately written as a poor role model, fans have started to condemn Greg's behavior as they get older, relating to Rodrick more than him.
- Many of his detractors dislike Greg due to his jerkish qualities such as abusing and humiliating others like his best friend Rowley and Fregley for his own gain as well as his extremely self-centered view of himself, enough for the fandom to label him as a sociopath.
- He is an unreliable narrator who often exaggerates details of his life to make himself appear extraordinary. For example, it makes absolutely no sense for him to be able to remember his time as a pre-natal infant in his mother's womb. He also views himself as one of the most popular kids in school and feels entitled to become rich and famous.
- He is a toxic friend to Rowley, constantly mocking him, getting him in trouble and treating him as a slave, while envying Rowley's success and trying to cash in on the fame for himself. Even when Rowley cuts off his friendship with Greg for his toxicity, he always forgives him at the end only to let Greg mistreat him again.
- Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid, as seen from Rowley's perspective, depicts Greg as being a much worse friend to him, to the point where viewers hate the book's portrayal of Greg for being too mean-spirited towards Rowley and questioning why they still remain friends. Some people also dislike this portrayal for exaggerating Greg’s worst qualities.
Trivia[]
- Greg is not a Base Breaking character in the original movies as his negative qualities that made his book counterpart divisive are much less prevalent and he comes off as nice.
- On the other hand, his The Long Haul movie counterpart is considered a Replacement Scrappy.