Alan Powers

Alan Powers,  better known as "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-coloured 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 pyjamas consist of a yellow sleep shirt and orange and yellow striped pyjama bottoms, and is one of the few characters to wear detailed pyjamas in the animated series, while most other characters wore monochromatic pyjamas 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.

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

Despite being quite well mannered, Brain sometimes has a tendency to fantasize negative and sometimes dangerous things to happen to those who have wronged him, as seen when he was defeated in a science fair by Muffy. He was formerly hydrophobic. He tends to be called upon a lot when his friends have technical difficulties but also is great fun to hang out with. In "The Wheel Deal", he suffered a leg injury and temporarily ended up in a wheelchair.

He is a big believer in the power of science and logic, 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. Later, he is stunned when Hurricane Sadie wrecks the Ice Cream Shoppe 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.

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. He also and led the winning team of the Arithmattack competition and he is a devout member of the school Computer Club. In "Big Horns George", Brain is shown to have an interest in blues music, and can even play the harmonica.

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 started school a year early, wasn't mature enough at the time.

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. 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 doesn't seem to recognize Brain's birth name of "Alan".

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.

Francine Frensky: Francine and Brain are seen playing soccer with each other and they are also seen hanging out. However, they are almost also bad friends 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 others' company. Brain helped George get into the blues music as well as helping him understand Asperger's better.

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

 * In Arthur's Perfect Christmas, Brain's dad is seen carrying one of D.W.'s classmates. This has brought up that Brain has a never before seen sibling or a cousin/other relative.
 * Brain used to have a fear of water that he eventually got over.
 * He is very talented in soccer, on the cello, piano and academically, hence his name.
 * In "Brain's Shocking Secret" from Season 11, it was revealed that Brain was actually supposed to be in the same grade as Prunella, but due to him being a "crier" he was held back a year. This could explain why he is slightly taller than most of his peers. It is also likely that he started kindergarten a year earlier because he's currently eight years old in the third grade.
 * Brain also works: He works in his family's ice cream store and teaches in summer school.
 * Brain's goal is to be an astrophysicist.
 * Brain tends to be a "report hog", meaning he has to do all the work for group projects.
 * His usual marks are either an A or an A+, but his lowest mark seen in the show was a B-, seen in the episode "Breezy Listening Blues". [Note: In the episode "Brain Gets Hooked", Brain receives a C on his Magna Carta report; however, Mr. Ratburn allows him to redo his project, and it is implied that he receives a higher grade when he presents his report the second time.]
 * Alan is called by his nickname quite often, and Arthur has forgotten his first name at times; although his parents refer to him by his real name more than anyone else.
 * In the earlier seasons, Mr. Ratburn and Mr. Haney referred to him by his nickname like his friends do, but in the later seasons, they referred to him by his real name Alan.
 * According to the episode "Brain Freeze", Brain's grandfather was named Alan, so it's quite likely that Brain was named after his grandfather.
 * The Brain has an African family, specifically of Senegalese descent as revealed in the episode "In My Africa".
 * He is star forward and goalkeeper for the Lakewood Elementary Soccer Team and briefly played for the Elwood City All-Stars.
 * He has a Martin Luther King Jr. poster in his room that says "I have a dream", as seen in "S.W.E.A.T."
 * His initials are A.P., which is also the abbreviation for "Advanced Placement." An AP class is a high school class equal to an undergraduate class in college.
 * In the episode Buster Spaces Out it is revealed Brain has family that lives in Texas.
 * He is modeled after one of Marc Brown's friends with the same given name, and being nicknamed "the Brain" for his intelligence.
 * Brain celebrates Kwanzaa, since his aunt and uncle are African.
 * The shoes he wears resemble the brown dress shoes that Arthur wears in episodes where there are formal occasions.
 * A running gag is that Brain will build robots such as the robotic cat and odd machines like the Tooth-Removing Machine.
 * If one combines his nickname and surname, they get Brain Powers- a clever pun.
 * Brain's IQ is somewhere in the high 140's.

Specials

 * Arthur's Perfect Christmas
 * Arthur - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
 * D.W. and the Beastly Birthday

Arthur

 * Season 1
 * Arthur's Eyes 101a
 * Francine's Bad Hair Day 101b
 * Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn 102a
 * Arthur's Spelling Trubble 102b
 * Buster's Dino Dilemma 103b
 * Arthur Goes to Camp 107a
 * Francine Frensky, Superstar 110b
 * Arthur the Wrecker 114a
 * Meek for a Week 117a
 * The Perfect Brother 121b
 * Bully for Binky 123a
 * Misfortune Teller 123b
 * Arthur's Tooth 124a
 * Arthur Cleans Up 125b
 * My Dad, the Garbage Man 126a
 * Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble 127b
 * I'm a Poet 128a
 * Arthur's First Sleepover 130a
 * Season 2
 * Draw! 201b
 * Arthur Makes a Movie 204a
 * Buster Baxter, Cat Saver 206a
 * The Big Blow-Up 208b
 * Water and the Brain 213a
 * Arthur the Unfunny 213b
 * Arthur's Knee 214b
 * Love Notes for Muffy 216a
 * D.W. Blows the Whistle 216b
 * Arthur the Loser 217b
 * Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard 218a
 * Sue Ellen's Little Sister 220b
 * Season 3
 * Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous 303b
 * Binky Rules 306a
 * Season 4
 * The Blizzard 405a
 * Season 5
 * The Lousy Week 505a
 * You Are Arthur 505b
 * The Election 506a
 * Sleep No More 507a
 * Season 7
 * Francine's Split Decision 702a
 * Ants in Arthur's Pants 703a
 * Waiting to Go 704b
 * Elwood City Turns 100! 705
 * Jenna's Bedtime Blues 706b
 * Prunella Sees the Light 709a
 * Return of the Snowball 709b
 * Season 8
 * Arthur's Snow Biz 803a
 * Bugged 803b
 * Fernkenstein's Monster 804a
 * D.W., Dancing Queen 804b
 * Vomitrocious (cameo) 805a
 * Sue Ellen Chickens Out 805b
 * Desk Wars 807a
 * Desperately Seeking Stanley 807b
 * Muffy's Art Attack 808a
 * Big Horns George 810a
 * Season 9
 * Tipping the Scales 901b
 * George Blows His Top 902b
 * Arthur Weighs In 903a
 * The Law of the Jungle Gym 903b
 * Buster's Green Thumb 904a
 * Lights, Camera... Opera! 905a
 * All Worked Up 905b
 * Arthur Makes Waves 906a
 * A is for Angry 907b
 * The "A" Team 908a
 * Buster the Myth Maker 909b
 * Binky Goes Nuts 910a
 * Breezy Listening Blues 910b
 * Season 10
 * Happy Anniversary 1001
 * The Squirrels 1002a
 * Fern and Persimmony Glitchet 1002b
 * Desert Island Dish 1003a
 * Feeling Flush (cameo) 1004a
 * Flaw and Order 1005b
 * The Curse of the Grebes 1006a
 * Arthur Changes Gears 1006b
 * Unfinished 1007a
 * D.W., Bossy Boots (prologue) 1007b
 * Binky vs. Binky 1008a
 * Do You Speak George? 1009a
 * What's Cooking? 1010a
 * Buster's Special Delivery (cameo) 1010b
 * Season 11
 * Germophobia 1101b
 * Arthur Sells Out (cameo) 1102a
 * Buenas Noches, Vicita 1103a
 * Prunella Packs It In 1103b
 * Brain's Shocking Secret 1104b
 * Strangers on a Train (fantasy) 1105b
 * The Making of Arthur 110601
 * Dancing Fools (cameo) 110602
 * Hic or Treat 110701
 * Mr. Alwaysright 110702
 * Francine's Pilfered Paper 110801
 * Buster Gets Real 110802
 * Spoiled Rotten! (cameo) 110902
 * Season 12
 * Is That Kosher? 120101
 * War of the Worms 120701
 * Do You Believe in Magic? (cameo) 120902
 * The Perfect Game 121001
 * Season 13
 * The Great MacGrady 1301
 * Brain Gets Hooked 130302
 * MacFrensky 130401
 * Prunella and the Disappointing Ending 130502
 * When Carl Met George 130601
 * D.W. Swims with the Fishes (cameo) 130602
 * Fernlets by Fern 130801
 * The Pride of Lakewood 130902
 * Season 14
 * The Wheel Deal 140101
 * Season 20
 * Buster's Second Chance 200101
 * Cereal 200202

Specials

 * Arthur's Perfect Christmas
 * Arthur's Missing Pal

Gallery

 * See: The Brain/Gallery