Randy Betancourt (Comics)

Randy Betancourt is an enemy of Nate Wright and P.S. 38's "residential scuzzball" as Nate states. According to Nate, the kids in Randy's posse are in it just because they are scared of Randy.

As of the eight and final book, "Big Nate Blasts Off" was released, the book explained a lot more about Randy and even himself stating that he has horrible grades and his parents are getting divorced. These are probably what shaped his ego the wrong way.

In the end, Randy joins the 38th Annual Mud Bowl, and beat Jefferson Middle School, which in the end, Randy stated that he could live without Ruby in his life.

They got to know each other better over time. However, in the daily comic strip, the two remain bitter enemies.

Biography

Randy had to retake a year of preschool which means he's one year older than Nate.

Middle School

Bake Sale

During Nate and Francis Pope's bake sale, Randy shows up and steals one of the lemon squares. Nate notices, and asks Randy to pay up for it. Randy pretends he does not have it and throws it away. The lemon square lands on Ms. Godfrey's butt and she demands who threw it. Randy lies and says Nate did it. Mrs. Godfrey believes him and writes Nate a detention slip. Nate gets revenge by throwing his Dad's coconut yogurt pie (which he commented earlier that no one wanted to touch) at Randy, earning him five detentions, but Nate was satisfied at it whatsoever.

Quest to Defeat the Kuddle Kittens

"You know what time this is? Payback time!"

―Randy Betancourt^[src]

In this book, Randy is one of the main characters. Randy is the captain of his fleeceball team, the Raptors. Nate leads Randy and his posse to his locker. Then proceeds to open his locker and get Randy buried under trash. Later, Randy grabbed Chad's notebook and ran into Nate's table and got a bloody nose. He lied that Nate gave him a bloody nose to Ms Clarke, but she knew the truth and sent him to the nurse. In the fleeceball game between Nate's team and Randy's team, in the ninth inning, Randy grounded out to first base and stomped on Nate's foot. Gina replaced Nate and committed an error, allowing two runs. Gina hit a walk-off home run, defeating the Raptors.

School Beach Dance

When Nate and Dee Dee arrive at the Beach Party Dance, Randy teases them by yelling out that Nate and Dee Dee are the "hot new couple". Dee Dee retaliated by saying that Nate is just her friend, but that he would not know because he has no friends. Nate was surprised that Dee Dee actually stood up to Randy, as not many people have. When Nate is in the middle of changing his clothes for the dance, Randy steals them.

Fight against Nate

"Hey, Butthurst! Hey, butt boy!"

―Randy bullying Francis about his middle name

Randy is one of the main antagonists, and tries to steal the camera from Nate and flings it into the air, but Nick Blonsky catches it. Nate makes a new comic based off of Randy's pathetic bullying attempts. When Nate reveals Francis' middle name, Randy begins to bully him about it, kicking him and disturbing the other students. Later, Nate realizes that Randy probably took the camera, but later sees Nick Blonsky with the camera, failing to catch him. Later in the cafeteria, Nate sees Randy bullying Francis about his middle name again. Nate tackles him, and they begin to fight as the other students watch. Nate nearly wins but detention monitor Mrs. Czerwicki sends him to the Principal's office. Later, Nate discovers that the fight with Randy un-hypnotized him.

Redemption

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU LITTLE TURD?!"

―Randy when him and Nate run into each other (literally)

In this book, Randy is shown a lot in this book, making him a main character in this book. Randy is shown being ran into by Nate, and Randy tries to beat him up. However, he actually stopped when Ruby came by, which is not like Randy, revealing he has a huge crush on Ruby, which made Randy competition for Nate.

After Dee Dee slipped Nate's crush on Ruby secret out, Randy is shown in the library, not wanting to finish beating up Nate. He flung Nate's bag in the air, making stuff go everywhere. Dee Dee pointed out he's mad about who Nate loves (Ruby.) In the cafeteria, Nate got splashed by Root Beer, which was Randy's trick, not Ruby's.

Later, Nate wrote a new newspaper column, with Guess That Guy, and everyone know it was Randy. They had a BIG fight in the halls, and they had to have peer counselling with Gina. On a science trip to somewhere, Randy and Nate HAD to partner up. Suddenly, Nolan appeared, making fun of Nate as usual, then Randy came and stood up to Nolan.

Randy stated that he has horrible grades and his parents are getting divorced, which motives him. Later in the end, Randy joined the Mud Bowl, and they played against Jefferson. And after 37 years, P.S 38 WON!!! Randy and Nate both celebrated the victory, making them good friends. However, in the comics, they are still enemies.

Physical Appearance

Randy wears a T-shirt casually. In some books, his shirt is green but in color comics, his shirt is grey. On his shirt is a fruit which appears to have a crown on it. He wears long, grey pants and black shoes. In color comics, his pants are olive-green.

Personality

Randy Betancourt is mean, cruel, and snobby. He is also hotheaded. He is very revenge-seeking; this is most prevalent when he attempts to sought revenge on Nate several times after Nate humiliates him. He also picks on almost everybody in school.

After his redemption, Randy's personality underwent major changes. Now, in the novels he is now much nicer and no longer a bully. He still has a bit of attitude in him, as shown in Nate's comic strip where he yells at Chad for not catching the Frisbee because of his good throws, but now he is nicer to Nate and his friends. Although he does not seem to hang out with Nate, such as Chad and Dee Dee do. However, he is still a mean bully in the comics, and still remains a bully to this day.

Relationships

Nate Wright

Nate Wright is the class clown and one of Randy's worst enemies. Nate also believes he has no friends, stating that his posse only follows him out of fear. At one point, Nate used his messy locker to humiliate Randy, and Randy swore revenge. The latter achieved it by roughly stomping upon Nate's foot and rendering him unable to play for his team. Nate is also annoyed that Betancourt never receives detention, although he constantly does "detention-worthy" things.

After discovering the truth about him, however, Nate is more civil towards him. After the Mud Bowl, they even became friends and Randy found it easier to respect Ruby Dismore's (his crush's) decision to stick with Nate. However, in the daily comics, Nate and Randy are still bad enemies. Once Nate accidentally spilled his lunch on Randy, and Randy makes him meet at the soccer field after school. There, Randy tried to attack Nate, who ducked, and it resulted in Randy dislocating his arm, making their rivalry even more intense.

Ruby Dinsmore

Randy Betancourt had a crush on Ruby Dinsmore, though Ruby does not feel the same way. In the end, Ruby chose Nate Wright and he waved her off.

Posse

Randy Betancourt has a posse of students that always follow him around. According to Nate, Randy sows fear within them to ensure their loyalty - they do not even like him. However, Nate's speculations were never confirmed to be true.

Gina Hemphill-Toms

Randy picks on Gina too, but Gina still picked Randy on her team as a replacement to Nick Blonsky. Hemphill-Toms might have only picked Betancourt to get on Nate's nerve and plus, Randy is very athletic and proven when he throws a Frisbee an entire miles' distance.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes

His posse: Randy finds them very useful, having inspired fear to seek their loyalty to him.

Dislikes

Not getting payback: Randy very much dislikes it when he never gets to attain his revenge.

Behind the Scenes

He appears every once in a while in the comic strip, and in almost every Big Nate novel. He used to be a minor bully in the strip, but later on, he started to appear more.

Randy goes to counseling due to his lack of good grades and also his harsh journey through divorce. This makes Randy one of the most emotional and deepest character in the Big Nate universe.
It is still unknown who his parents are as they're only mentioned in Big Nate: Blasts Off. He is not the only one as countless other characters didn't have their full family or parents shown in the books or comics.
He casually wears a t-shirt with what appears to be a pineapple of some sort with a crown on it. This may symbolize him being the king of PS-38 in his mind. Strangely enough, a truck can be seen in the background in the books with the same logo. It is unclear what this logo is but it's most likely a unnamed clothing company similar to Adidas and Nike.
Throughout the eighth book of the series, both Nate and Randy are in love with Ruby. Sadly, in the end after learning Nate didn't have to move, Ruby kissed him which broke Randy instantly.
Even if he was a jerk in the comics and books, he has proved himself that there is good in him. He saves Nate from being beaten up by Nolan, a kid from Jefferson Middle School, and even helping Nate win the Mud Bowl.
In the comics, Randy's t-shirt is usually gray/tan. In the books, it is shown on the back that it's actually green. Possibly he changes his t-shirt often which is different from the other characters who usually wear the same clothes every day.
Once, Nate was sniffing lunch bags and guessing what was inside. Randy tried to prove that he was a scam, and that Nate was peeking through his blindfold. He made Nate sniff his lunch. Nate replied with "A roast beef American sandwich with mustard, a can of barbecue Pringles®, a Granny Smith apple and a note from your mother." Blushing, Randy replies, "Lucky guess," and Nate says, "It's cute that she calls you 'Lil Dumpling'," revealing the nickname his mom gives him.
He once shoplifted Klassic Komix, attempting to sneak out a My Little Pony book.