Monday, February 5, 2024

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid vs Big Nate


"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun." - Mary Lou Cook

Greg Heffley, THE Wimpy Kid 

Nate Wright, aka BIG NATE

The mind of a child is often praised across the bounds of fiction. It is a place of unbound creativity and happiness, where the only limit is their imagination. However, with these two revolutionary stand-up comics from stand-up comics…the limits of imagination do not exist. At least, until they have to face the reality of the most horrifying experience in human history: Middle School. 

Round 1: FIGHT!!!

Before We Start…

These two have had quite an extensive history, both as characters and as a match. However, due to certain factors (Greg getting annihilated with their normal stuff, sorry not sorry) we'll be looking at ALL of their histories. This doesn't just mean the comics, books, shows (sadly), movies, and etc they've been in over the years, but their imaginations as well. 


Essentially, anything they've dreamed and thought up over the years is fair game as long as it abides by certain criteria. 

  1. They have to (mostly) think of the characters themselves, and be directly from their imagination, as shown by their comics.

  2. The kind of hypothetical scenarios that Greg has will only be counted if they buff him in a specific way regarding his abilities and whatnot, or else he'd be a head kicked by monkeys on Jupiter in one of his dreams. Don't question it. 


Annoyingly, a few of Nate's activity books were also unable to be researched thus far, and are not covered as a result.


Enough of that though, let's get into it!

Background

Greg Heffley

“Okay, let's get something straight. This is not a Diary, it's a journal”. You've all heard these famous words before, and the iconic kid they came from. Greg Heffley: THE Wimpy Kid. From books to Do-It-Yourself journals, from movies to sequels to unneeded sequels, even Poptropica. Greg's record speaks for itself, but let's see his backstory do the talking shall we?


Greg was born into a somewhat normal family, with parents, an annoying older brother, and a spoiled younger brother. If you ask Greg though, he's not even close to normal. He is a genius, destined to be rich and famous one day, but for now, he's stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons. During these trying years in the transition between elementary and high school, Greg would have to deal with such classic examples as being a late bloomer, getting bullied by giants who hit their growth spurt too early, the kids around him being childish brats, the works.


That's why he asked for the Journal in the first place; so he could write down the important details of his life for others to read when he is famous. Throughout all his journals and all his adventures, Greg does come off as an arrogant self-entitled jerk…a lot, but he's evolved to be far more than that. He's willingly hidden/saved a diamond ring his families squabbles over to not break them all apart, taken the fall for multiple of his endeavors gone wrong to keep Rowley out of it, and even managed to get a love interest, Holly Hills, in the 3rd and final Diary Of A Wimpy Kid movie. All this from a kid who draws his hair like a half-thought out corn cob? Not bad. Not bad indeed.

Nate Wright

The Newspaper comic strip. One of the many great things about reading one amongst all the word jumbles and stories about how bleak our world is. And why wouldn't it be? You've got some all time favorite characters for making people laugh their bad days away, such as Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Marmaduke, Garfield, and more. But today let's talk about one of the more recent greats, a middle schooler named Nate Wright. 


He's been in comic strips, novels, online games, Poptropica, even a TV show as of late. A bit more than your average kid, and that's fitting since Nate is ANYTHING but average. For most of his life he has believed he is destined for greatness, and that one day all of it will make sense. Common traits amongst maturing children, along with the hatred for middle school, the worst years of his life. It's not all bad though, as he has found friends in Francis Pope, Teddy Ortiz, and more, like Chad and Dee Dee. Not only do they stick with him throughout the endless number of detentions he gets, but they also help him in his own endeavors. Such quests include pranking every teacher in the school on the last day before summer break, punking all of his enemies with his locker, and drawing up his zany cartoons. 


As the years have gone by however, Nate's become far more of a well-rounded character than that. He's had to mature enough to deal with the astonishingly lucky exchange student Artur, along with his dating his first crush Jenny, who didn't even give him the time of day. After so much rejection, eventually Nate just accepted that she wouldn't care for him, and moved on, in 2 seperate continuities no less, to way more supportive and healthy relationships. Overall, Nate has taken huge leaps in personal growth, in the kind you wouldn't really expect from a 2 dimensional comic character. He's helped an ex-girlfriend with her future affairs of the heart, willingly stood up for his friends in battles he knows he'll lose, and taken everything in stride as he keeps on moving forward. Not bad for a kid whose head looks like a cactus. 

Experience & Skill

Greg

In case you aren't aware just how many Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books there are, or how big the franchise is, here's a reminder. There are 18 books in the main series, multiple spin-offs in-between like Rowley's books or the Do-It-Yourself Book, and movie versions of multiple books like the original story, Rodrick Rules, and Dog Days. This gives Greg plenty of in-universe years having wacky adventures, and in fact, we can actually tell via the months he's marked

  • Book 1: September - June

  • Book 2: September - December 

  • Book 3: January - June

  • Book 4: June - August

  • Book 5: September - November

  • Book 6: November - December

  • Book 7: January - February

  • Book 8: March - April

  • Book 9: June (A few days)

  • Book 10: September - October

  • Book 11: October - November

  • Book 12: December (Week like trip)

  • Book 13: January - February

  • Book 14: March - June

  • Book 15: August (Few days-weeks probably)

  • Book 16: September - November

  • Book 17: December - April

  • Book 18: April - June


Overall, Greg's adventures last roughly 4 years and 10 months, and that's a good deal of time for a middle schooler. He's gotten himself out of plenty of wacky situations, like multiple vacations gone wrong, hiding all traces of Rodricks party in an hour/hours depending on the version, and so many more, despite his being “Wimpy”, or not excelling at physical tests or fights by most metrics.

Nate

Due to the magic of comic strips, Nate has been going on his adventures for FAR longer than the average middle schooler. While to him it may seem like just another year, his comic strip has been going since January 7, 1991. In current terms of the strip, he has a veritable 33 years of experience, give or take due to re-runs. That's just the strip though, and he's also gone on several adventures in his books, or the TV show, on a similar or higher scale to what he usually does. He's spent this time rather splendidly, and has used it to experience multiple sports, take on several bullies, including kids twice his size, or put his insane Intelligence to the test. More on that later, but in terms of combat, Nate is an expert at playing the long game of strategy: He IS a master of Chess beyond even fellow geniuses Francis and Gina after all. He has set up numerous traps with this in mind, and has an absolutely ABSURD resume in terms of pranks, which will be discussed later. He's also used…street fighter moves? At least, he has in the imagination of the second season of his Show. Huh.


Arsenal

Greg

Journal

What is a wimpy kid without his diary journal? Over the years, Greg has had 18 different journals which he uses to record all aspects of his middle school life, just in case he becomes famous of course. Not very combat applicable, but it's worth an obligatory mention.



Prank Materials

While not an avid prankster, Greg has still used a few tools over the years to fulfill his desires he would get access to here.


Nate


Prank Materials

For those who haven't read Big Nate, he is by far one of the most dedicated and savvy child pranksters in all of fiction. The lengths this guy will go to in order to humiliate or tear you down are…frankly rather frightening. Beyond his specific items of greater importance are the one-time things; A.K.A a list of all he's used over the years, those being



Nate: The Fragrance


For those unaware, Nate considers himself a ladies man (except when it comes to Kim) and, in one of his many schemes to prove this, he created…this. It’s essentially a perfume/spray he made with his natural musk, intending it to be a good thing, but…that couldn't be further from the case. His stench is so horrendous it will repel practically anybody, making crowds of people choke horrendously on several occasions, and it's no outlier (as weird as debating the potency of body odor is). His socks smell so bad other people faint, his feet smell bad enough to kill a bird in the sky, and his stinky shoes were declared a public health hazard. Heck, when he smelled his own shoes one time, he outright compared them to “Rotten Eggs or a Dead Animal”. Even a room full of air freshener will be literally cleared out by his smell, and it's gotten so toxic, people need gas masks to ignore it. Recent showings while this very blog was in production have it disintegrate both air freshener packs after a few hours, and even supposedly odor neutralizing baking soda in moments. 



His Locker

Nate is, in layman's terms, a slob. Oh, sorry, he's “organizationally challenged”. That term is fully applied to one of his most iconic gifts, his ability to shove an unnatural amount of crap in his locker. This may seem completely disgusting to any outside viewer, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Name ANYTHING, and it's likely Nate has it in here. Don't believe me? This is just the stuff we KNOW are in there.


He's even managed to put in an alarm system to handcuff intruders, put on a 30-second delay timer for it crashing out, go inside an internal shower to clean himself in moments, install a security door to the supply closet, put a boxing glove mechanism in it to knock out intruders, and so…so much more. He's got so much stuff in there, at one point he's claimed there was 20 feet worth of his stuff inside it. This has some weight, given it blasted him across a floor, down a stairwell, and all the way to his next class. Sadly though, unless the fight takes place in PS. 38, he doesn't get access to this.

Abilities

Greg


Enhanced Intelligence/Creativity


While Greg may not be “book-smart”, he is most assuredly “street smart”, in multiple areas no less. He's incredible at video games, has memorized a Swear Language with Rodrick to curse each other out without getting caught, and has an excellent memory (when it benefits him). Not only has Greg scored 100% on multiple questionnaires for books he's read that he actually likes, but he apparently remembers everything that has happened over the course of his entire life. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING; right down to when he was in his Mother's womb. Which is biologically impossible, given that studies have shown infants aged 6 to 12 months have trouble remembering events that took place 24 hours ago. Beyond those instances, Greg has a knack for getting in and out of trouble; the former through use of things like setting up a tripwire and other traps; the latter through his quick thinking on the subject matter. Greg has taken advantage of a teachers instructions to get an annoying student in trouble, or in the original idea for the book, purposely wrote down the wrong answers on his quiz to make the guy copying off him fail it (than correct his own at the last minute), and purposely took the blame for his Dad's trouble to get on his good side and get both out of a bigger issue. 



Enhanced Stamina (Sort Of)


While fairly unathletic all things considered, Greg is capable of pushing himself pretty far when the need be. For example, he has walked 2 miles back to his house from the swim meet every day rather than ride with Rodrick, played a computer game for 16 hours straight without going to the bathroom, and stayed at the bottom of a pool for presumably over a minute. Still is a little weird to compare with his not being able to do one pull-up at school.


Teleportation 

Pretty self explanatory. Greg Heffley has teleportation in the first Disney + movie. Despite the inherent usefulness of such an ability, he never really utilizes it in combat, and mostly uses it for stealth and traversing…in one scene


4th Wall Awareness

In the movie diary for the first Wimpy Kid film, Greg (specifically the character before his actor was cast) is completely aware of what the book is saying about him and responds in kind, along with his family members as well. In the live action movies, he is also narrating everything and telling the audience about it, something Rodrick also notices at the end of the second one.

Resistances

  • Low Temperatures: Greg regularly showed tolerance against low temperatures in the novel/movie cabin fever 


Nate


Enhanced Intelligence/Creativity

Perhaps Nate's greatest quality is his ABSURD intelligence. Get ready.


First up, for his memory, Nate can remember the most random fictional things, or real-life things, like how many vacation days in a year/their dates and how long until the next one, the statuses of all the couples in school, the dates people manage to prank/annoy him, and exactly what each house in his neighborhood gives out for Halloween, stretching back 5-6 years. In terms of fiction, he remembers the stats and attributes of every single Runequest card (bootleg Yu-Gi-Oh), and has perfect knowledge of the most random trivia questions. Such examples include MTV awards/music, Peanuts, Survivor Palau, Family Guy, Lord Of The Rings, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Cereal Mascots, Superheroes A-Z, snack foods, and Sports knowledge across basketball, baseball, etc.


Beyond his memory, he Is a master strategist, and has beaten numerous people smarter than him in chess (Francis played him a million times, and “I've never beaten him! not ONCE!") or Gina, who routinely outscores him in tests and the like. Just from the chess angle, he has defeated an incredibly sophisticated computer 6x over with only instinct, and expertly manipulated a guy into buying school products just through a chess metaphor. 


What's more, Nate will go to such lengthy pranks and schemes, his skills extend into things like hardware, complex traps, and hacking. In terms of hardware, he has done things like remove the walls behind lockers or put an airbag (and more) on his own. For traps, he has set up a motion system alarm for his Halloween candy, a step-activated swinging punching back, a spring-loaded launch trap, a step-net trap, etc. His hacking skills go from simple matters like turning on the school sprinklers, or breaking into the academic records of other schools (all for the purpose of dissing a guy he's playing against in a basketball game) to…well, the results speak for themselves. He's replaced the security footage of a parking lot with Season 3 of Dance Moms, put a video onto the school website, made all the teachers car radios play "Schools Out" by Alice Cooper at maximum volume forever, remotely triggered the smoke detection system in Nichols office, which activated the overhead sprinkler system, resulting in it releasing 7-Up instead of water, or…how about hacking into Mrs Godfrey's phone and sending all her contacts her plan to become an exotic dancer?


I could go on, but let's try to speed-run. He's set up a huge game show styled "This Is Your Life" prank for Coach John, including hiring a guy to dress as his imaginary friend, getting his date for the junior prom, and his middle school coach, Wally Deadwood. He knows Morse Code, has hired countless individuals across multiple fields to prank the teachers, and he's better at Wordle than both Francis and Mrs. Godfrey. Huh.



Enhanced Smell

Nate has a RIDICULOUSLY impressive nose,  and can differentiate pretty much anything he has smelled before. He can smell specific food types…or anything else really, like off someone to know when they're coming, even in entirely different rooms/areas. For example, he has identified/detected each and every teacher/person that has come up in the challenges, like…


This also extends to types of food, like…


…or anything else really.



Hypnosis

Remember when I said the lengths Nate will go to for his pranks are ludicrous? Yeah, this is what I meant. Nate has taken multiple months worth of hypnosis class, online or otherwise, and used books on it before. This results in his being able to control Nichols with a snap of his fingers, alter Chad's entire personality after a failed try with another finger-snap, and make Mr. Galvin believe he is Bo Peep, dressing to match. 



Flight/Hovering

Against all logic…well really, barely any, it is Big Nate after all; Nate can fly when in moments of happiness. He has flown in school when Jenny asked him to the dance (Not what you think/he was the last option) and again when happy with his new locker partner. On other occasions, he has flown/walked and risen on air… multiple times really, which his Dad and other characters have pointed out, so it's no mere gag.


Invisibility

When asked what superpower he wanted, Nate said he already had one; Invisibility. When Mrs. Godfrey came over to yell at him, he disappeared right after, to both her and Francis/Teddy. No explanation. He just went invisible and it was never mentioned again.



Healing Factor

Like most cartoon guys, Nate has had rather comedic brushes with harm over the years, and inexplicably healed from them in no time. For instance, in the comic strip examples, which take place in close proximity to each other more often than not, multiple characters heal from vast injuries that would take weeks of recovery in-between issues. Francis healed from crutches, Nate healed from a neck brace, a broken leg and arm/face injuries that warranted “he was lucky to be alive" according to a news reporter, a face wide injury that required stitches, and a body-wide bandage injury [and what's more, timing wise, it was near Halloween, same costume, and he was fine for it). 


He has also done the same things with astronomically deadly injuries, like having his spine broken by Chester (fine next issue), dropping a real ax on his foot (fine next issue) and this is right after the first. He's came back from having his head/upper body crushed by a large Vulture, getting stuffed in a shoe size present that probably broken his back, or even getting stuffed in a pitcher and soda bottle by Chester. In the TV show, he's similarly broken his back,had his head cut open by Dr. Cesspool, and literally fallen apart, only to come back good as new.



4th Wall Awareness/Breaking

Like most comic strip characters, Nate has broken the 4th wall on plenty of occasions, and so have other characters in Big Nate. His Dad noticed quotation marks in a spoken sentence, him/Nate/Francis/Teddy were all aware of a real world contest and pointed to it in the comic strip, and there have been multiple occasions where the characters are possibly aware they were drawn differently this time. Beyond those, he has spoken to the narrator and audience directly, described his sister like somebody reading the comic would, and in the TV show, he's even gone so far as to GRAB the 4th wall with his bare hands, directly affecting it for transmissions and visual gags.


Resistances

Imagination

Remember how we said this bout will cover the imagination of these two? Well, it's quite serious. Anything they've dreamed up over the years should be fair game, unless it came from somebody else or can't be reliably used in a VS setting. With that out of the way, let's cover the stuff from their imagination and the wacky wonderland that comes with it.

Greg


Time Machine


In one of Greg's schemes, he put some money in a time Capsule to mail to the future, hoping a time traveler would see this, get rich off it, and come back to thank him in turn. This thought, for example, would be counted, and it's possible this time traveler could help Greg escape to different eras in time as a result, or trap others inside different points as well. These thoughts are actually pretty fair, given the imagination/question segments in the Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book, where he thinks about using one himself (it's his book he made for others).


In this, he's flat-out shown to know how to use it, and in the descriptions of its abilities, it's able to go back in time to change the future, potentially trap somebody in the past, tell one's past self knowledge they would know in the present, or meet your older self in the future. 




Portal to Hell

So in the newest book, when talking about how he feels the less he knows about science the better, he brings up himself accidentally opening a portal to Hell. I don't know what more to say, cause again, this is a PORTAL TO HELL!



Subjective Physiology


Like any guy in the history of mankind, Greg has imagined himself with different physical attributes to augment his life. In layman's terms he's thought of having a prehensile lizard tail, being a jacked centaur with a crossbow, or becoming a cyborg in the future. This goes from having legs that operate while he is asleep/unconscious, to an entire cyborg body with a roach motif, presumably with higher survivability thanks to that aspect, and a nuke going off in the background.



Superpowers


Yet another staple of childhood imagination is the idea of getting superpowers, to be a hero like Batman or Spider-Man. Greg is no different, and has actually thought of several before. These include ones in the actual books, or the choices in the Do-It-Yourself Book, which will have both listed. That said, he's thought of…



Miscellaneous



…Anything Else Really

Due to imagination being…imagination, Greg would theoretically have no limit to his power or abilities. The only conceivable end would BE his imagination, and how far it would take him in a battle where he can think and do anything. 


Nate



Comics/Creations

As an aspiring Cartoonist and Ben Franklin enthusiast, Nate has drawn up plenty of colorful characters over the years that, surprisingly, can actually work to his favor here. Him being given access to his imagination means he would get their help regardless, but, in the TV Show, they've even been shown to be able to physically interact with the world; IE, Dan Cupid shooting and visibly affecting Nate with an Arrow (Episode 3) Thus, his comics can help him in a battle like this, and those comics are…


Street Fighter Moves


In only episode 7 of the second season of the show, Nate performs both the Hadouken and Shoryuken. Although, not only is this an imaginary segment, he also never does this again.


Superpowers

In the same vein as Greg's choosable powers from the Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book, Nate has a choosable list of superpowers the reader can pick for their own superhero. Given he has a direct hand in creating the books, just like Greg on his side, so too can his own abilities be considered. That being said, his choosable powers are…


But, if you want a bunch of these powers and more, let's turn to Nate's most powerful creation…



Ultra-Nate

You've all made lists of what you want to be when you grow up right? Well, at the top of Nate's is to become a quote “all-powerful superhero”, or rather, his alter-ego, Ultra-Nate. He's your standard Superman type hero, with the standard powers to match, being…


On top of all of this, Ultra-Nate should logically massively upscale all of Nate's feats/scaling, imagination or otherwise, given his nature as an all-powerful superhero. 


…Anything Else Really

Due to imagination being…imagination, Nate would theoretically have no end to his power or abilities. The only conceivable limit would BE his imagination, and how far it would take him in a battle where he can think and do anything. 

Feats


Greg

Overall

  • Successfully created the childhoods of…probably everyone reading this lol

  • Made it to Poptropica

  • Also made it to the big screen 

  • Rekindled his relationship with Rodrick 

  • Stuck up for Rowley and took the heat for eating the _ _ _ _ _ _

  • Stayed up for 72 hours straight

  • Got the girl in the movies

  • Survived through a blizzard, a road trip gone wrong, an old fashioned farm (that’s probably haunted), being stranded (alongside with his lunatic family), a snowball fight, and much more to come 

  • Defeated…nobody

    • Huh


Power


In the real world…


In his imagination…



Speed


In the real world…

  • Managed to hit Rowley while he was on a big Wheel going down a hill

    • He estimated earlier he was going like 35 mph

  • Dodged a soccer ball kicked at him from a few feet away

    • Varies, usually 40 mph

  • Escaped from Terror, a Rottweiler, with Rowley multiple times

    • 18-25 mph

  • Ran away from some geese with Rowley 

  • Ran so fast he skipped/ran on water

  • Scaled a tennis court wall thing like Spider-Man in seconds to escape from the fire of a tennis ball machine

  • Scrambled up a falling ladder onto his roof

  • Kept up with a car (First DOAWK animated movie) 

  • Ran and hopped into his bed before his light switch went off he thinks (4.26% Lightspeed) *Debatable


In his imagination…



Durability


In the real world…

  • Got Tackled back by some kid (Page 87)

  • Got punched by Chirag pretty hard in the arm for a while and ignored it despite the pain (Rodrick Rules Page 60)

  • Got shot in the butt twice with a paintball gun

  • Got punched 11 times in a row by multiple kids larger than him

  • Fell off a diving board into a 10 feet deep pool at eight years old

  • Shot in the butt by a BB Gun

  • Tanked a large shelf filled with memorabilia falling on him with Rowley

  • Got knocked off his house (second story essentially) onto the ground with 3 feet of snow, and didn't really get damaged. Then he slipped on the stairs going up and fell back down again but was fine [albeit he almost broke his neck] 


In his imagination…



Nate

Overall

  • Has had a successful comic strip for over 30 years

  • Has pranked virtually every teacher in the school dozens of times and has never been caught

  • Defeated a chess computer multiple times in a row without any knowledge on technique, along with those perceived smarter than him like Francis and Gina

  • Inadvertently managed to have Gina get a detention

  • Defeated Randy, Marcus, Gina, Teddy, Francis, and every poor soul in the way of his pranks

  • Met Charlie Brown and reads Calvin & Hobbes

  • Is actually a great boyfriend and has some of the healthiest relationships I've ever seen (seriously, read the comic strip/novels)




Power


In the real world…



In his imagination…


As Ultra Nate…



Speed


In the real world…


In his imagination…

  • Nothing lol


As Ultra Nate…



Durability

In the real world…


In his Imagination…


As Ultra Nate…

  • Nothing either lol

Scaling

Greg

Other Kids


While he is a bit…unathletic in-verse, Greg has still performed rather exceptionally when pissed off or when emotionally motivated, so it's possible he could compare to other moments random people have done in his school or otherwise.

  • A random kid fell through the ceiling onto another school floor

  • Rowley blocked the contents of a fire extinguisher at point blank range

  • Random kids can tear through walls with shovels and pickaxes

Manny


Greg should be physically superior to his “onwy thwee!” year old brother, who did this. No real explanation.


Omni-Man and Invincible 

What? He totally scales to Omni-Man and Invincible! Look at how happy he is!


Nate

Other Kids/Characters


In a similar vein to Greg, Nate has matched multiple kids his age or otherwise several times over, and should compare to any feat they have done given his status in-verse, along with other people like his Dad.

Chester


Easily the strongest character in the comic strip, Chester is a complete and utter MONSTER in terms of Physicality. While Nate may not compare to him physically in terms of strength, he has survived his blows all the same dozens of times over, with varying levels of injury, and dodged thrown projectiles from him before. Thus, in terms of durability, he should be able to tank similar punishment from elsewhere.


Chester has…

Weaknesses

Greg


Yeah it's no real shocker Greg has his fair share of flaws. Not only is he incredibly Wimpy, obviously, but this extends to him being rather full of himself, along with being prone to failure because of it. He is fairly unathletic and inexperienced in terms of battle or applying his intelligence, and is…kind of a douche all things considered.

Nate


Nate may be absurdly impressive, but he is far from perfect. Not only did he simp for a jerk for decades, but his arrogance tends to leave him in trouble more often than not. As far as that goes, going in without a plan usually tends to lead to his being the butt of the joke, or his getting demolished by foes stronger than him such as Chester. As far as his imagination is concerned, even Ultra-Nate isn't invincible. He has been shown to be vulnerable to things like specific electricity weapons, being exposed to poison gas for long periods of time, having his power transferred to others, or (shudder) Egg Salad. 

Before The Verdict

FTL Greg?


Alright so this warrants a bit of explanation. Basically, the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid original book you know and have probably read wasn't the first version. There was technically a previous one over 1000 pages long that you can read yourself if you want, which has elements from basically the first 3 books. It's essentially a prototype of the story with elements Jeff Kinney would use later, and it’s also more teen-centric than kids book via topics like smoking, actual real brands being named, plus more that the real DOAWK series shies away from. With all that said, this book has a nifty little feat where Greg leaps into his bed before his light goes off. Pretty straight forward right? Well…sort of. 


The feat itself is valid, but consistency is a prevalent issue, as well as canonicity. This is an ABSURD outlier for media in the franchise barring the raw imagination angle, and while these kinds of cartoon-land feats have less trouble being accepted due to their nature, DOAWK is significantly more grounded in comparison to Big Nate and has rarely any actual superhuman feats to give this grounds. Accepting it as such is sketchy as is, but then you have to factor in that it's technically not even canon, or canon-adjacent like the movies or spin-offs. It isn't mentioned anywhere else in the verse, and why would it? This book is pretty much 6 times longer than most Wimpy Kid books, and thus a lot of it would naturally be cut, including the feat. While you could argue it should be included nonetheless due to somewhat conflicting stories across other media representation being included, like comparing the Big Nate comic strip/novels/show to each other, or the various Wimpy Kid movies of books, it's nature as a prototype and not an actual inclusion into the series is a bit different than a movie, and thus harder to include in a soft-composite like this 


TLDR: It's a large outlier (even worse given the grounded nature of the series) inconsistent with the story/canon, and relies on multiple leaps and bounds in logic to be accepted into the first place.

Verdict


Before we get into the verdict, I'd like to thank everyone who pitched in to help. This is my first blog where multiple people helped with the research, and thus got it done in like half the time I usually take to churn one of these out. Couldn't thank them enough, but moving on, let's get into the verdict of Greg vs Nate.

Stats

Starting off with stats, it's rather complex, but still has a clear-cut winner. Due to their imaginations playing a rather big role in higher-up stats, you could argue their base forms in real life don't matter that much, but a stat advantage is a stat advantage, and Nate holds all the cards in that department. In just raw strength with no scaling, he's done several toony shenanigans that exponentially exceed Greg's own, like breaking a wooden telephone in half. When you bring that in, he's fought numerous people on his level before, and those who can harm him, which is pretty crazy when you consider he's survived blows from a guy like Chester. The very same eldtritch deity of war that can bat baseballs faster than sound, palm basketballs, and throw dodgeballs “1,000,000,000 mph”. While this does fall more into imaginative territory, he has more than enough physical feats to outmatch any feat in the Wimpy Kid verse, like tanking the 5 tons of TNT worth in his Lockers escape velocity kinetic energy, or catching objects moving at that speed too. Greg has examples of breaking down walls and Manny's 3 day house build, which gets somewhat even with Nate's escape velocity locker feat, but nothing close to the sheer toontastic totality of Nate's titanic feats. Once you DO bring imagination and the like in, Greg gets a bit more impressive. 


He not only gets access to a rocket that Blasted Rodrick at 1.5 x FTL, but a Backhoe that can smash buildings or dig to China. Beyond that though? Not much. Sure, there is the Bed Jump in the OG Novel, but that has a few…issues let's say in actually using. It's nature as a fully physical feat and not imaginary places it solidly in the outlier tier, given he has no speed feats whatsoever to support it. You could say similar about Nate and the Chester throw, but the difference there is its applicable as a mix of imagination, and not nearly as out of pocket given the more wacky and cartoon centric nature of Big Nate. What's even worse is that it's basically not even canon, given its a prototype book that has shown no connections to the Canon books I'm the series or its other media like the movies. Even if you were to include it, Nate straight up outmatches it with the Chester throw, and would still be similar to the Saturn Rocket, albeit a bit slower. Even the imaginary strength feats can't stack up to Nate's raw Physicality in real life, let alone his imaginary feats, or more specifically, those or his greatest weapon; Ultra-Nate. 


This guy is an absolute MONSTER in terms of the debate. Not only should he eclipse Nate's base stats and those of his other classmates, like Jenny growing to the size of a Galaxy, but there's also his infamous feat of flying so fast he travels through time. Rather surprisingly, the feat is completely legit. He does it with his partner/scaling example Mega-Chad, explicitly stating they will use their super-speed to do so. This breaks the “Time Barrier” and results in their traveling through time, and if you're not convinced, they do it again later, with a normal person enduring this velocity all the same. TLDR, Ultra-Nate is outright infinite/immeasurable in speed, and thus Greg can not keep up, no matter what he thinks up. Especially not when his galaxy sized power scaling means one hit would be enough to take Greg out. To sum up, base forms no imagination ends in Nate outpacing and outmuscling, including imagination still results in his being faster and stronger, and Ultra-Nate just ends the comparison right then and there. 

Arsenal & Abilities

Moving on to arsenals and abilities, it doesn't fare much better for our Wimpy Kid. He does have access to a few prank materials, and impressive imaginary powers like precognition, mind reading, electricity powers, and more. His super vision is similar to Nate's own through Ultra-Nate and the Activity Books grab bag of powers, his Bad-Breath Deflector can potentially deflect Nate: The Fragrance, and he has a few options to take Nate out of the fight through his time travel or portal to BFR him to another Era or…Hell. Precognition and mind reading, as well as knowing Nate's past and powers through Retrocognition, make these possibilities…albeit very unlikely ones.


For All of Greg's powers and imaginary gadgets, Nate has far better versions of them, and in better qualities. For example, the majority of Greg's are treated in a somewhat “not worth it” way that us depressed kids and teenagers argue about that would make a seemingly good thing not worth it, like how super-speed would realistically hyper-activate your metabolism and make you forced to eat a buffets worth of food every day, and thus have more drawbacks and problems. Nate doesn't really think like that, and very few of his abilities have active drawbacks or limitations in effect. What's more, he has thought up far more that Greg just hasn't gone up against, like Magnetism to steal his gadgets, force fields, and anti-gravity. That's just the tip of the iceberg, when he also has mind reading, on top of mind control, hypnosis, cloning, shrinking, weather manipulation, enhanced senses, and other abilities to completely overwhelm the more grounded imaginary powers of Greg. This doesn't even cover his massive arsenal of summons and pals through his creations, which can operate independently of his will and carry their own unique tricks, such as the Time Machine Ben Franklin has, the love hax/bad idea generation/transmutation all his fairy friends gift him, or the insane pain tolerance of Moe Mentum.


Even looking at this from a base level, Nate has counters to pretty much everything Greg can do. Both he and Franklin have shrugged off lightning before making Greg's electricity moot, he has multiple different kinds of mind hax and mind reading to make Heffley's own mind powers not mean much in comparison, and more still methods of time travel to get out of Greg's BFR; a lot of which he has on person through powers/Ultra-Nate. On the flipside, Greg has no defenses to those mind powers, or getting trapped in other time periods himself, given he only has one on-hand time travel method that can be destroyed. Not only this, but Nate's Bad Ideas Fairy will actively worsen Greg's plans and creativity, making him play into Greg's hands even more. As if all this wasn't enough, Nate can also regenerate from literally falling apart, meaning even if Greg could somehow outhax him, it still wouldn't last long given he can't put Nate down beyond that. Arsenal and Abilities go to Nate.

Tertiary Factors

Finally we have the Tertiary Factors, which is where most of the battle gets decided. Greg may have gone on 4 years worth of adventures in his books and more through the movies retellings of them, but Nate has gone on over 30 through just the comic strip, let alone his extra adventures through the novels and show, which embrace new stories and delve away from retelling other books, giving even more overall experience. This also goes into his BETTER experience, in that Nate is far better suited for combat thanks to his own endeavors in-verse. Not only is he absurdly brilliant and versed in outfoxing his opponents in battle, like his chess strategies, but he's also been in more actual fights, and has a great track record at playing the long game to get his revenge on unsuspecting opponents. 


However, perhaps Nate's greatest advantage is what this battle ultimately comes down to: Imagination. Due to it being entirely subjective and endless based on these two kids' minds, they could theoretically have any power or stat at their disposal and win in an instant. Thus, it would then come down to whose creativity and intelligence in this regard is superior, and yet again, it's Nate. If his powers weren't clear, his imaginary skill and cartoonist mind lead to his having a far more vs applicable arsenal, on top of being generally more creative and bold in strategies. Greg tends to coast on by without really taking risks, or thinking of ways to improve, but Nate constantly relishes these opportunities, and thus is far more likely to put his imagination to good use and outmatch Greg's last hope. Also technically he is a VS Debater so…


The winner…is Nate Wright

Conclusion

Greg


Advantages: 

  • Could theoretically win with a few hax powers or his imagination…

  • Counters a few of Nate's powers

  • The live action films (besides The Long Haul)

  • One of the best selling book series of all time

  • Better singer 


Disadvantages:

  • …but Nate has counters to pretty much all of it and has superior creativity in that field

  • Stat-stomped in real life, imagination, and ESPECIALLY with Ultra-Nate

  • Inferior summons and powers

  • Vulnerable to Nate's own powers (mind hax, hypnosis, mind reading, time BFR, etc)

  • Less experienced, skilled, or intelligent

  • His entire family (except Rodrick weirdly enough) are all sociopathic hypocrites

  • I’m not gay Greg 



Nate


Advantages:

  • Far more creative and imaginative where it counts, and would most assuredly win when it comes to imagination potential

  • Stat-stomps in strength and matches/exceeds in speed across the board through every stage, with Ultra-Nate just blowing Greg out of the water

  • Has better powers, a wider variety of them, more counters, and multiple of these on his person as abilities rather than removable amps like Greg's Tim's machine

  • Wields more useful hax and has multiple summons with their own abilities to throw at Greg and reduce his intelligence

  • More experienced and skilled, especially in the intelligence department

  • Is a great boyfriend and all around good person

    • Seriously read Big Nate

  • Is a VS Debater



Disadvantages:

  • Potentially vulnerable to a few of Greg's hax, and some of his own can be matched

  • The TV series (seriously it's atrocious)

    • There’s a song about buttcheeks

      • It disgraces the Canon and story telling of the comic and novel



Greg Heffley (0) - R.I.P bozo


Nate Wright (7) - el PUNPUN, Phoenix Wright, Round 1 Fight, thedarkloremaster, Toxin T Taker, Supermonye, 08




Next Time…



Power vs Nezuko 
(Chainsaw Man vs Demon Slayer)
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