This article is about Alan, known as "Brain". You may be looking for Alan, his grandfather.

Alan Powers[9][10][11] – commonly known as "Brain" or "The Brain" – is a third grade student in Mr. Ratburn's class at Lakewood Elementary School.

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 depicted 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 is one of the few characters to wear detailed pajamas in the animated series, while 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. He wears briefs.[12]

Personality

He is mild-mannered and is one of the most polite characters in the series. He is an expert soccer player,[13] despite Francine's jealousy that she was great in other sports.[14] 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.[15]

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 hydrophobic.[16] He tends to be called upon a lot when his friends have technical difficulties[17][18] 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.

He is a big believer in the power of science. He has a tendency to think logically but sometimes has trouble adjusting when things seemingly 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.[19]

In stressful situations, Brain can become very anxious. He has great stagefright when in front of an audience.[20][21][22] 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.[23]

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 and 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,[24][25] and can even play the harmonica.[26]

Biography

Past Life

He went to the preschool D.W. goes to and Arthur went to. He oddly enough had a rivalry with Binky that still lives on in the present. He was held back in kindergarten because he was not emotionally ready at the time.[27]

Future Life

According to different episodes, he will become a ground-breaking scientist and invent teleportation. He will have an entire TV network named after him. If we assume the intro of the episode, "The Election" happens, he will also become a Supreme Court Justice. In "The Contest" episode, he along with the others are shown as teenagers. 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.

Relationships

Friends

Arthur Read: Arthur is Brain's best friend an they regularly hang out. In "Arthur's Faraway Friend," Arthur and Brain spent a lot of time together while Buster was gone and the two even wrote a story together.[28] Brain is sometimes looking out for Arthur and cares about his well being, as seen in "Arthur's Knee", where he's concerned over Arthur's injury. The Brain often helps Arthur with his homework and helps him study. Likewise, Arthur almost always shows complete confidence in the Brain both as an intellectual and as a friend, as he was the only one who stood up for him in "Water and the Brain" when everyone else thought Brain was a snob. Despite their good friendship, Arthur often forgets Brain's birth name of "Alan".[12][29]

Buster Baxter: Both Brain and Buster are sometimes seen hanging out and Brain also helps Buster with his homework, just like Arthur. They are good friends and Buster likes going to his Ice Cream shop almost all the time. However, Buster can be quite annoying to Brain and they may end up getting into a bad argument, but they get over it anyway.[30][31]

Francine Frensky: Francine and Brain are seen playing soccer with each other and they are also seen hanging out. However, they also rival one another and almost lose their relationship, which happened in the episode, "The Big Blow-Up" from Season 2, they get into the worst fight that their friends had ever seen, but they finally got over it.

Muffy Crosswire: They may not be good friends, but they sometimes hang out. Brain almost befriended Muffy in the episode, "Muffy's New Best Friend," but they managed to not be friends.

George Lundgren: The Brain and George are occasionally seen together enjoying each other's company. Brain introduces George to the blues music[26], and helps him understand what it is like to live with Asperger's.[32]

Cheikh: Cheikh is Brain's cousin who moves to Elwood City. He first appears in "In My Africa."

D.W. Read: D.W. and Brain are friends. He tries to help D.W. figure out how her snowball returned after being lost.[33] They sing In My Africa with Cheikh in the episode "In My Africa."

Binky Barnes: While Brain's intelligence surpasses Binky's, which can be a source of conflict for them, the two are good friends. When their parents are late to pick them up from soccer practice, they become paranoid and share a bonding moment together.[34] When Brain wants to fill a time capsule, he and Binky argue over what to put inside, but they eventually reach a compromise.[35]

Prunella Deegan: She is a trustworthy friend to Brain. She keeps Brain's secret of being held back a year in kindergarten up until he reveals the truth to his friends in "Brain's Shocking Secret."

Other Media

In the Living Books computer games, the 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. The 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 he looks in the cartoon show.

Trivia

Appearances

Specials

Arthur

Postcards from Buster

Specials

Books

Games

Gallery

References



