Sue Ellen Armstrong

Sue Ellen Armstrong is a 3rd grader in Mr. Ratburn's class at Lakewood Elementary School.

Physical appearance
Sue Ellen is an anthropomorphic cat who is depicted with a tan complexion, curly orange hair worn in pigtails, and wears a teal shirt-dress with a cream-colored vest over it and red-and-white sneakers. In the early Arthur books, her hair was worn loose; she was given her pigtails starting with the book Arthur's TV Trouble. In some of the later books, her hair color had changed from blonde to yellow-orange. Her swimsuit is a two-piece green bikini with a purple trim.

Personality
Sue Ellen is assertive, proactive, brave, tough, kind, slightly tomboyish, tolerant, honest, and creative. She is an amazing storyteller and is open-minded. She is also easy to get along with and can solve problems on her own. She is very mature and artistic for her age and interested in world culture, which is the reason she makes friends with people older than herself, such as Betsy Johnson. Athletic-wise, she is defender for the Lakewood Elementary Soccer Team. She wanted a sibling so she would not be as lonely, but she ends up regretting the need after she goes to Arthur's house and plays with D.W. for a few hours.

Life Before Arthur
Sue Ellen's father is a diplomat, so she and her family have lived in various places around the world. It is unknown why her family has settled in Elwood City. She has lived in places like Egypt and Nicaragua, mostly for a couple of months to a year. Her family also spent a year in South Africa. She had never been to a place with snow before moving to Elwood City. She is skilled in martial arts, for example Tae Kwon Do making her more powerful than the average third grader. In the Postcards From Buster episode "Buster Gets on Board" Buster meets Sue Ellen's friends who are skateboarders including Sue Ellen's pen pal Brandon. This gives hint that Sue Ellen at one time lived in Los Angeles, California.

Future Life
If the intro to the episode, "The Election" does happen in the future, she will be either future President Muffy 's running mate or a member of her party. In the imagination of Arthur in "Arthur Rides the Bandwagon" Sue Ellen appears next to the Brain and with a child much like him (but with glasses).

Season 1
In "Sue Ellen Moves In," Sue Ellen moves to Elwood City. Buster thinks she is an alien because she has many strange objects. He later realizes that she has lived all over the world and they become friends. In "Bully for Binky", Sue Ellen stands up to Binky and is not afraid to stand up to someone much bigger than her. Binky becomes intimidated by her because she knows martial arts. Later, Sue Ellen says that she doesn't want to fight him, but if he ever does, she'll be ready. Binky soon stops his bullying.

Season 2
In "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary", she loses her diary in the library. She asks her friends, but they haven't seen it. They wonder what is inside. Soon, they find her diary, but they ultimately chose to not open it. Sue Ellen recovers her diary and hints that she has a crush on Arthur; this was probably to an allusion to Arthur's crush on Sue Ellen in the Arthur books. In "Sue Ellen's Little Sister", Sue Ellen feels sad that she doesn't have a sibling. She asks her friends to be their siblings and realize that older brothers won't work. She looks for little sisters and ends up with D.W. whom she can't stand. She later realizes the pros of being an only child. Her parents get her a brother-like friend from Tibet to whom she can write letters to.

Season 3
One of Sue Ellen's biggest appearances in this season is in "Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurus". She later appears in Popular Girls, in which she is the central character with Fern, and Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival.

Family
Sue Ellen lives with her father, a diplomat, and mother, a homemaker. She is an only child but keeps in touch with her brother-like friend Tenzin in Tibet (she also has a Tibet World Girl doll.) Other family members aren't mentioned or seen. Like the Brain, her parents' given names are unknown.

Episode Appearances

 * 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's Lost Library Book 104b
 * Sue Ellen Moves In 121a
 * Arthur's Tooth 124a
 * Arthur Cleans Up 125b
 * My Dad, the Garbage Man 126a
 * D.W.'s Blankie 127a
 * Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble 127b
 * I'm a Poet 128a
 * The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club 128b
 * My Club Rules 129a
 * Stolen Bike 129b
 * Season 3
 * Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival 311b
 * What Scared Sue Ellen? 312a
 * Season 5
 * Arthur and the Big Riddle 501a
 * Kids are from Earth, Parents are from Pluto 502a
 * It's a No-Brainer 503a
 * The Shore Thing 503b
 * The Lousy Week 505a
 * You Are Arthur 505b
 * The Election 506a
 * Bitzi's Beau 508b
 * Season 7
 * Francine's Split Decision 702a
 * Muffy Goes Metropolitan 702b
 * Ants in Arthur's Pants 703a
 * Don't Ask Muffy 703b
 * Jenna's Bedtime Blues 706b
 * D.W.'s Time Trouble 707a
 * Buster's Amish Mismatch 707b
 * Prunella Sees the Light 709a
 * Return of the Snowball 709b
 * April 9th 710
 * Season 8
 * Bugged 803b
 * Fernkenstein's Monster 804a
 * D.W., Dancing Queen (cameo) 804b
 * Vomitrocious 805a
 * Sue Ellen Chickens Out 805b
 * Desk Wars 807a
 * Desperately Seeking Stanley 807b
 * Muffy's Art Attack (cameo) 808a
 * Season 9
 * Tipping the Scales 901b
 * Arthur Weighs In 903a
 * The Law of the Jungle Gym 903b
 * Buster's Green Thumb 904a
 * All Worked Up 905b
 * 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
 * Desert Island Dish 1003a
 * Feeling Flush (cameo) 1004a
 * D.W., Bossy Boots (Cameo and prologue) 1007b
 * Do You Speak George? 1009a
 * Season 19
 * Sue Ellen Adds It Up 1902a
 * Wish You Were Here 1902b
 * Arthur's Toy Trouble 1903a
 * Francine's Cleats of Strength 1908a
 * Mr. Ratburn's Secret Identity 1909a
 * Besties 1909b
 * The Last Day 1910
 * Season 20
 * Buster's Second Chance 2001a
 * Cereal 2002b

Trivia

 * There are several episodes in the series that group her with Arthur, Buster and Binky such as "The Secret Guardians", "April 9th" and "What Scared Sue Ellen?".
 * She is based on Ruth Ann, Marc Brown's childhood girlfriend.
 * She became a vegetarian because she lost taste of eating animals whom she considers friends.
 * She has a brother-like friend named Tenzin who lives in Tibet.
 * She may have a crush on Arthur since she said she wrote some "Nice things" about him at the end of "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary".
 * Sue Ellen's full initials spell out SEA. Given she has traveled around the world, the initials fit.
 * She did not have a speaking role in any Season 18 episode.