Across documented appearances, Beetle follows a consistent three-phase arc: initial warmth and agreement, a pivot to destabilization when direct challenge arises, then withdrawal framed as philosophical distance. The destabilization move is almost always the same — a rapid reframe of the host's premise as a personal failing rather than a factual disagreement. In over half of appearances, this is preceded by three rapid topic changes before the pivot lands. The pattern holds across wildly different panel compositions, which suggests it's structural, not reactive.