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Alan Powers

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This article is about Alan, known as "The Brain". You may be looking for Alan, his grandfather.
Alan Powers
Brain Arthur Weighs In.png
Age 8 (s1 - s10)[1][2]
10 (as of s11)[3][4][5]
Grade 3rd
Gender Male
Animal Bear[6]

Eye color Brown[7]
Blue[8]

Favorite color Plaid[1]
Residence The Brain's House, Elwood City
Family Mr. Powers (father)
Mrs. Powers (mother)
Keith Powers (uncle)
Cheikh (cousin)
Cheikh's mother (aunt)
Cheikh's father (uncle)
Alan (grandfather)
Brain's 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 Lettau (s12 - s15, PfB s3)
Siam Yu (s16 - s18)
Max Friedman Cole (s18-s21)
Evan Blaylock (s22-s25)

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

Physical appearance[edit]

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[edit]

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.

Despite being quite well mannered, Brain sometimes would imagine vengeance when he feels defeated, as seen when he was defeated in a science fair by Muffy. He was formerly hydrophobic.[15] 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. 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.[16] 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. His father called him the smartest, bravest and most determined person that he knows.[17]

Interests[edit]

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. In "Big Horns George", Brain is shown to have an interest in blues music, and can even play the harmonica.

Biography[edit]

Past Life[edit]

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[edit]

An older Brain as seen in "The Contest".

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[edit]

Arthur Read: Arthur is Brain's other best friend as 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.[18] 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".[19]

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 other's company. Brain helped George get into the blues music as well as helping him understand Asperger's better.

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

D.W. Read: - D.W. and Brain are friends. They sing In My Africa with Cheikh in the episode "In My Africa."

Other Media[edit]

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[edit]

  • 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 (besides Cheikh).
  • 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 nine years old in the third grade.
  • Brain works in his family's ice cream store and teaches in summer school.[20]
  • 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.[21]
  • 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".
  • His second voice actor, Steven Crowder is also known for being the host of the podcast series Louder with Crowder.
  • His fifth voice actor, Lyle Lettau would later star as Tristian Milligan in the Degrassi TV series.
  • He is star forward and goalkeeper for the Lakewood Elementary Soccer Team and briefly played for the Elwood City All-Stars.[13]
  • 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.[citation needed]
  • Brain celebrates Kwanzaa,[22] since he has family that are African.[23]
  • 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 140s.[24]
  • Brain, despite being afraid of water is still seen in the into at a swimming pool and has a title card where he is swimming under water.
  • He really wants a particle accelerator.[25][26]

Appearances[edit]

Gallery[edit]

See: The Brain/Gallery

References[edit]

  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. ↑ "The Perfect Brother"
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "The "A" Team"
  14. ↑ "The Good Sport"
  15. ↑ "Water and the Brain"
  16. ↑ "Friday the 13th"
  17. ↑ Shelter from the Storm
  18. ↑ The Ballad of Buster Baxter
  19. ↑ Prove It
  20. ↑ "The Short, Quick Summer"
  21. ↑ Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurus
  22. ↑ Arthur's Perfect Christmas
  23. ↑ In My Africa
  24. ↑ The Substitute Arthur
  25. ↑ "Arthur the Unfunny"
  26. ↑ "Cents-less"



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