Randall

I have always sympathized with Randall, completely, and understood that he only acted the way he did in MI due to unfortunate circumstances. I have never, not for one second, believed that Randall was inherently "evil" or chose to be the way he was in MI. MU verified what I've known all along. I DID feel sorry for him, but I felt sorry for him in MI. Logically, there is no way that any one employee can be as good as everyone claimed Sulley to be, and Randall knew that, too. He KNEW that something underhanded was going on behind the scenes, to elevate Sulley to that "rock star" level. It makes sense now, that Randall had known Sulley to be a douch-bag and a cheater in college, that he'd still figure none of that had changed. Randall was literally driven over the edge by Waternoose deliberately manipulating both him and Sulley, in order to keep Randall out of his comfort zone and ensure his cooperation on a project that Randall normally would have had no part in. It takes a lot of negative experience to take someone from what we see in MU to what we see in MI, and as someone who's been through a lot of that myself, I can understand completely what would be going on in Randall's head. I think that Dan Scanlon did a great job of showing that people are not born "evil" or "bad", with very few exceptions, but become the product of our circumstances. Had just ONE of Randall's circumstances changed-had Mike actually been a real friend to him, had he not joined ROR, or even if he had, had they not kicked him out, had ROR contested Sulley's "win" over Randall when Sulley caused Randall to fall, had Randall been able to hear that same confession that Sulley presented to Mike out at the lake, or even had they not been put in direct competition with each other at work, that would have changed everything from that point onward. I am hoping that Pixar will eventually tell Randall's full story, from HIS POV, and give him a chance to redeem himself rather than let fans go on wondering if he died a horrible death out in that Louisiana bayou, while the real villain of MI, Henry J. Waternoose, gets a far lesser punishment and the two vigilantes who took it upon themselves to act as judge, jury and executioners are hailed as "heroes". Randall actually has a lot of fans who understand this, and don't "loathe" him at all.

pitbulllady

I liked that he was nice. It gave him somewhere to go with the character. We got to see how and why he became such a jerk later.

He was OKAY at first. He seemed nice but showed his true colors when he got into ROR. He betrayed Mike's friendship and became just like the rest of the jerks in that fraternity. I think it realistically showed how someone can seem nice but give them power or change their circumstances or whatever and their true bad colors come out. Just like Hal/Titan on Megamind. He was always crying "I'm a nice guy" but when he got power the evil qualities and traits he'd for the most part kept hidden came to the forefront. Again that's how it is in real life. People give you subtle hints as to who they really are. You just have to pay attention. And even Randall I think gave little subtle clues that he was desperate to improve his status.

I could absolutely not agree more with Pitbullady (or disagree more with the most recent response.) Yes, bad people often conceal their true natures until coming into a good position to reveal them, but there's nothing to suggest that Randall was ungenuine or not pure-intentioned. His bitterness and anger began to grow over time as a result of what was happening to him--and frankly, I don't really blame the poor guy.
The conversations from 2013 really say it all. This movie, which I actually like even more than MI, reveals exactly the sort of backstory I expected for Randy. I never hated him in the first film, but rather found him highly sympathetic. It's important to recognize that the true villain is Waternoose. Here you had this precious, sweet, generous cinnamon roll who simply wanted to be kind and make friends and fit in. Repeated rejection and humiliation began to lead him down a bad path. He got stuck with a supremely self-centered roommate who was only interested in being Randall's "friend" when it happened to suit him. It was only natural for nerdy Randall to want to make the most of his opportunity to get in with "the cool kids" by joining ROR. OP characterized him perfectly in MU, but I never expected him to have been unlikable in the past.

He decided to join the popular jerks in a "cool" fraternity and refused to be friends with Mike anymore.
It is really bewildering to me that anybody can feel sympathy for Randall.