arthur
This article is about Alan, known as "Brain". You may be looking for Alan, his grandfather.
"The Brain"
Alan Powers
Brain Arthur Weighs In
Age 8 (s1 - s10)[1][2]
9 (as of s11)[3][4][5]
Grade 3rd

4th ("First Day")

Gender Male
Animal Bear[6]
Eye color Brown[7]
Blue[8]
Complexion Moderate vermilion
Favorite color Plaid[1]
Residence Brain's House, Elwood City
Family Mr. Powers (father)
Mrs. Powers (mother)
Keith Powers ( paternal uncle)
Cheikh Diouf (paternal cousin or maternal cousin )
Mrs. Diouf (paternal aunt or maternal aunt or paternal marital-aunt or maternal marital-aunt)
Mr. Diouf ( paternal uncle or maternal uncle or paternal marital-uncle or maternal marital-uncle)
Alan ( paternal grandfather or maternal grandfather)
Brain's grandmother (paternal grandmother or maternal grandmother)
Book debut Arthur Goes to Camp
Cartoon debut "Arthur's Eyes"
Voiced by Joey Edelman (Living Books)
Luke Reid (s1 - s4)
Steven Crowder (s5 - s6, APC)
Alex Hood (s7 - s9, PfB s1 - PfB s2)
Paul-Stuart Brown (s9 - s11)
James Buckholder (AMP)
Lyle O'Donohoe (s12 - s15, PfB s3)
Siam Yu (s16 - s17)
Max Friedman Cole (s18 - s21)
Evan Blaylock (s22 - s25)
Nathan Sayavong (TAP, s1-3)
Luke Dietz (TAP, s4)

Alan Powers[9][10][11] – commonly known as "The Brain" (particularly prior to Season 8)[12] or simply "Brain" – is a student in Mr. Ratburn's third grade class at Lakewood Elementary School. He is in Mr. Ratburn's class again for fourth grade.[13]

Physical appearance

Brain is an anthropomorphic bear who wears a grey sweater with olive green pants (according to the promotional art on the cartoon's official website, he had on khakis instead) and brown loafers. In the books, he wears different-colored shirts and sweaters, and blue jeans or sometimes khakis. He has clumps of hair which are brown in the books, although the cartoon depicts the hair in thin black lines in order to simplify the animation process. He wears sneakers when playing sports. His pajamas consist of a yellow sleep shirt and orange and yellow striped pajama bottoms, and he is one of the few characters to wear detailed pajamas in the animated series; most other characters wore monochromatic pajamas in order to simplify the animation process.

On formal occasions, Brain wears a charcoal or black tuxedo with two pockets on each side of the tuxedo jacket and a white tuxedo shirt with a black bow tie and matching trousers and black shoes. He also owns a grey single-breasted suit with two pockets on each side of the suit jacket. He wears a white collar shirt with a blue tie. He also wears matching grey trousers and light black shoes.

Personality

He is mild-mannered and one of the most polite characters in the series. He is an expert soccer player,[14] despite Francine's jealousy that she is great in other sports.[15] He is one of the few characters who are usually left-handed. His usual grade is an A that ranges between 100% and 90%, as he is often considered the most intelligent student in Mr. Ratburn's class, and he often gets his work done faster than the other students.[16]

Despite being quite well-mannered, Brain sometimes imagines vengeance when he feels defeated, as seen when he is defeated in a science fair by Muffy. He was formerly aquaphobic.[17] He tends to be called upon a lot when his friends have technical difficulties[18][19] but also is great fun to hang out with. In "The Wheel Deal," he suffers a leg injury and temporarily ends up in a wheelchair.

Being an avid lover of science, Brain believes that anything can be solved through logical and rational thinking. Despite this, he sometimes has trouble adjusting when things cannot be explained by either, or when his emotions get in the way of his logical side. After an increasing spate of bad luck, he tries to chart what's happening to him only to find that his "luck" only seems to be getting worse.[20]

In stressful situations, Brain can become very anxious. He has great stage fright when in front of an audience.[21][22][23] He is stunned when Hurricane Sadie wrecks the Ice Cream Shop despite his family's careful plans and preparations to prevent such an outcome. His father's words that sometimes things like this happen no matter what only make him more anxious, as he begins to fear that the worst really could happen at any time and becomes jittery at the slightest sound of wind. A visit to a therapist, as well as some more words of encouragement from his father, help him to see that he can overcome his emotions about this if he tries. His father called him the smartest, bravest and most determined person that he knows.[24]

Interests

Brain is a member of Lakewood's soccer, baseball, and track teams, and plays cello and piano in the school band. He made it to the final round of the Spell-a-thon, but didn't win because he had stage fright at the time and misspelled the word "fear". He also led the winning team of the Arithmattack competition and he is a devout member of the school Computer Club. Brain has interest in blues music,[25][26] and can even play the harmonica.[27]

Biography

Past life

He went to the preschool D.W. goes to and Arthur went to. He oddly enough had a rivalry back then with Binky that still lives on in the present. He was held back in kindergarten because he was not emotionally ready at the time.[28]

Future life

Teenage Brain as seen in "The Contest".

Teenage Brain as seen in "The Contest".

In "The Contest," he, along with the others, are shown as teenagers in a flash-forward scene. He essentially looks the same, with a more relaxed outfit. He wears an olive shirt with a white undershirt, blue jeans, and red sneakers, similar in design to his friends' current shoes.

In a futuristic scene, Brain has an entire TV network named after him, and he is known to invent teleportation.[22] Additionally, the cold open of "The Election" implies he will become a Supreme Court Justice, and in the cold open of "Brain's Shocking Secret" he is President of the U.S. However, it is unknown if this is canon to the series, as many cold open and final scenes are known to be not based in reality.

Relationships

Friends

Other media

In the Living Books computer games, Brain had a pale cream-colored complexion in Arthur's Teacher Trouble, which was changed to light brown in Arthur's Birthday, although the final page depicted him with a pale one. It was likely due to color and tone restrictions during the 16-bit era of computers and software. Brain's voice sounded more mature in those two games and was voiced by Joey Edelman before the cartoon show replaced him with Luke Reid. In the later games during the 32-bit era of computers and software such as Arthur's Thinking Games, his appearance was the same as in the cartoon show.

Trivia

Appearances

Specials

Arthur

Postcards from Buster

Books

Games

The Arthur Podcast

Gallery

Main article: Alan Powers/Gallery

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Trading Cards
  2. In "Finders Key-pers", Binky says he is a year older than both Arthur and Brain. Binky is 9 and Arthur is 8, therefore Brain is 8.
  3. Brain would have to be 9 or 10 as he was held back, "Brain's Shocking Secret."
  4. "No offense, Dr. Paula, but I know how to breathe. I've been doing it for 9 years." — Brain to Dr. Paula, "Shelter from the Storm"
  5. Brain's hippocampus guide in "Brain's Brain" says that she hasn't had a break in 9 years.
  6. http://www.pbs.org/parents/arthur/help/answers/faq_friends.html (archived page)
  7. "Buster's Growing Grudge" (see picture)
  8. Arthur and the Big Blow-Up (see cover)
  9. "Arthur... Guess what. Alan's spending the weekend. His parents are going away."
    "Alan? Alan who? Oh, you mean the Brain."
    Jane Read and Arthur Read, "The Perfect Brother"
  10. "For disproving the theory of relativity the Nobel Prize in physics goes to Alan Powers. " — Announcer, "The Good Sport"
  11. "I'm afraid these books aren't real, Mr. Powers. The real book section is over there, where Mr. Read is."Bailey to Brain, "Muffy's Classy Classics Club"
  12. Arthur says, "Well, it's a good thing he didn't run into The Brain. There are tons of things that rhyme with his name!" (S6E8 "Rhyme for Your Life") Larry King mentions, "...The Brain." (S7E5 "Elwood City Turns 100!") Binky says, "Hey, Brain, do you know what time it is?" (S8E4 "Waiting to Go")
  13. "Arthur's First Day"
  14. 14.0 14.1 "The "A" Team"
  15. "The Good Sport"
  16. "The Perfect Brother"
  17. 17.0 17.1 "Water and the Brain"
  18. "Arthur the Wrecker"
  19. "Buster Spaces Out"
  20. "Friday the 13th"
  21. "Arthur's Spelling Trubble"
  22. 22.0 22.1 "And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids"
  23. "It's a No-Brainer"
  24. "Shelter from the Storm"
  25. "Breezy Listening Blues"
  26. "Binky vs. Binky"
  27. 27.0 27.1 "Big Horns George"
  28. "Brain's Shocking Secret"
  29. "The Ballad of Buster Baxter"
  30. "The Perfect Brother
  31. "Prove It"
  32. "Mr. Alwaysright"
  33. "On the Buster Scale"
  34. Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous
  35. Kids are from Earth, Parents are from Pluto
  36. "When Carl Met George"
  37. "Return of the Snowball"
  38. "Waiting to Go"
  39. "Brain and the Time Capsule"
  40. "The Short, Quick Summer"
  41. "How the Cookie Crumbles"
  42. Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurus
  43. Brain Gets Hooked "Alan, want to give it a try? Alan?-Mr. Ratburn
  44. Teaching With Favorite Marc Brown Books, Page 64
  45. Arthur's Perfect Christmas
  46. In My Africa
  47. The Substitute Arthur
  48. "Arthur the Unfunny"
  49. "Cents-less"



Powers Family
Alan Powers . Mr. Powers . Mrs. Powers . Keith Powers . Cheikh . Cheikh's mother . Cheikh's father . Alan (grandfather) . Brain's grandmother