Randy Betancourt (Big Nate)

Randy Betancourt, nicknamed as Randy "Buttancourt", 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 eighth 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, as has been proved in many psychological studies. 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, meaning he's one year older than his current classmates in sixth grade.

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
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 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
Randy is one of the main antagonists, and tries to steal the camera from Nate and fling 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
In this book, Randy is shown a lot in this book, making him a main character. Randy is shown getting ran into by Nate, and Randy tries to beat him up. However, he 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 finds the perfect way to get revenge on Randy by writing a new newspaper column, with Guess That Guy. The mystery student was claimed to have low intelligence, a huge nose, bad breath, enjoyed picking on smaller kids, and was a total weasel, but what ultimately gave it away was when the column said that the mystery student's name rhymed with "Shmandy Shmetancourt". Upon seeing the newspaper column, an irate Randy tracked Nate down and confronted him. They had a BIG fight in the halls, and they had to have peer counseling 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.

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

After his redemption, Randy's personality underwent major changes. He becomes nicer and no longer a bully, although he still has a bit of attitude in him, as shown in Nate's comic strip where he yells at Chad for not catching a Frisbee. He does not hang out with Nate like Nate's closer friends, although he has saved Nate from being beaten up by Nolan, a bully from Jefferson Middle School, and even helped Nate win the 38th annual Mud Bowl. This friendship only seemed to exist in the novels though, as his former personality stayed the same in the comics.

Randy wears a T-shirt casually, which appears to have a fruit with a crown on it. He wears long, grey pants and black shoes. In color comics, his T-shirt is gray/tan and his pants are olive-green.

Trivia

 * In the comics, Randy's t-shirt is usually gray/tan. In the books, it is shown on the back that it's 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.
 * He once played for the "Lollipops", a baseball little league teams sponsored by Bailey's Candies

Behind the Scenes

 * In Big Nate: In A Class By Himself, Randy was the only character who did not previously appear in the comic strips.