Arthur characters
Arthur centers around Arthur Read, the titular character, and his family and friends and their daily interactions with one another.
Arthur Timothy Read is the main protagonist in the series. He is a third grade student at Lakewood Elementary in Elwood City. He is 8 years old. He has two younger sisters, Dora Winifred (D.W.) and baby Kate. He possesses a sincere partiality towards reading, watching television (especially Bionic Bunny and Dark Bunny), playing sports, playing piano and spending time with his friends. He is an aardvark. He wears a yellow cotton sweater layered over a white dress shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Another feature that Arthur has is his signature round brown glasses. He is the oldest child in his family.
Dora Winifred "D.W." Read is Arthur's 4-year-old and eccentric sister. She is a middle child of the Read family. She attends preschool and enjoys watching children's television shows (Mary Moo Cow in particular) and the song "Crazy Bus" much to Arthur's annoyance. She is also known for her many short-lived obsessions and tantrums if these obsessions are not fulfilled. Many of the series' episodes revolve around tensions between D. W. and her brother--she especially enjoys getting him in trouble. Arthur occasionally envies D.W.'s accomplishments and D.W. of the privileges and capabilities that Arthur has for being older. While she acts self-centered and audacious, she shows appreciation towards Arthur and usually understands when she is wrong. She goes by the short name "D.W.", owing to an evident dislike for her full name. She wears a white long-sleeved tee under a sleeveless pink dress that is knee-length and has green shoes. In the episode D.W.'s Perfect Wish, her birthday was revealed to be March 1.
Buster Baxter is Arthur's best friend. A jolly and upbeat figure, Buster enjoys watching television, reading works of science fiction, conjuring conspiracy theories, playing video games, playing the tuba, reading joke books, and above all, eating. But despite his excessive eating habits, he is surprisingly lean. However, he sometimes shows a disinterest in school work, and his academic performance is usually underwhelming. He is 8 years old. He also has asthma. He is very superstitious at times, and is obsessed with extraterrestrial life. He has a case of rotten food in his room he calls his 'Food Collection.' Buster has acted as a detective on occasion, once teaming up with Fern, and is usually successful, though his tendency to embrace superstition and conspiracy theories hinders him. Buster lives in a condo with his mother, Bitzi, and occasionally travels with his father, Bo since Buster's parents got divorced for some unknown reason. In Season 2 he left on a vacation with his dad in Arthur's Faraway Friend and came back in Season 3 in The Ballad of Buster Baxter.He is shown as a white rabbit with a greenish blue sweater with a salmon colored collar and blue jeans.
Francine Alice Frensky is a tomboy who loves sports, drumming, and singing. She is 8 years old, and she is the best player on her team in just about every sport they play, rivaled only by the Brain at soccer and basketball. She is also good at the drums and singing, but has unsuccessfully tried to do them simultaneously. Her blunt, outspoken demeanor can sometimes have a negative effect on her relationships with friends and relatives. Francine and her family are Reform Jews. She can occasionally be bossy to her friends. She also does not like wearing dresses or getting her hair done. Francine is best friends with Muffy Crosswire. She met Arthur for the first time since pre-school in a flashback from Locked in the Library!. She and Arthur are each others' second best friends. They occasionally fight, but make up in the end. She is shown as a brown monkey with a red sweater with blue jeans and a barrette on each side of her hair. Her signature hairstyle is a brown flip, although it is not flat. She is also referred to as the most popular kid at school, though she is never mean about it. Her family sometimes calls her "Frankie".
Mary Alice "Muffy" Crosswire is Francine's best friend, though they are opposites in many ways. She is 8 years old. She is the daughter of Edward and Millicent Crosswire. She is the wealthiest girl in school, and is generally portrayed as a stereotypical rich and spoiled girl. She tends to be extremely self-centered, and like Francine, her behavior occasionally leads her into trouble with her friends. She also tries to impress her friends with her dad's wealth and because of this she is often labeled as a show-off by her friends. Muffy has an older brother named Chip. Her signature hairstyle is pigtails, usually braided, and she had buck teeth as she did in the early books in several but not all episodes of season 1. She is shown as a cream colored monkey in a white blouse with a purple jumper and two matching bows to tighten her braids. She takes dance class, but was never seen in a lesson. She is also a great artist. She often brags but makes up with her friends.
Alan "The Brain" Powers is one of Arthur's friends and classmates and an original character of the Arthur books. He excels both academically and athletically (especially the former). He is mild-mannered and is shown to be the most polite character in the series, although in the earlier seasons he was shown to be very sinister if provoked. He works at his parents' ice cream parlor. His friends trust and come to Brain when they're in need of factual information, and even D.W. has been shown to have a bit of an admiration for him. He is of Senegalese descent[4] and celebrates Kwanzaa. Brain had a secret that he had "flunked" (wasn't emotionally ready for) Kindergarten, in Brain's Shocking Secret. He also suffered from hydrophobia for a while, as revealed in Water and the Brain. He is obsessed with overachieving academically, like in Sue Ellen and the Brainosaurus, MacFrensky, and Breezy Listening Blues. He likes to listen to blues records. He is shown as a brown bear who wears a cream-colored buttoned dress shirt with long sleeves under a gray wool sweater having only the folded down collar and the folded over cuffs showing and a pair of olive green pants. Brain is one of the few left-handed characters in the series. When the television series was developing, his last name was unofficially "Brain", but later changed officially to "Powers".
Shelley "Binky" Barnes Binky Barnes is one of Arthur's friends and classmates. He was originally written as a bully, who secretly harbors sensitive and caring feelings. He enjoys studying the fine arts, including playing the clarinet and performing ballet. He was the leader of a bully clique, known as the Tough Customers, which in later seasons takes on more noble endeavors. He is now portrayed as one of Arthur's best friends but still acts rashly at times. In the episode Binky Goes Nuts, it is discovered that he is allergic to peanuts. Recently, his family adopted his 1 year old sister named Mei-Lin who was from China. Binky is an original character from the books. Binky is shown as a yellow colored English bulldog with an orange collared shirt, casual blue pants, and a gray belt. It's also said that he flunked third grade and had to repeat it. It is revealed that his real name is Shelley on What's in a Name. He was nicknamed Binky when he was a toddler because he always loved sucking his pacifier.
Sue Ellen Armstrong is a recent transfer to Arthur's school. She is 8 years old. Her father is a diplomat, and so her family has lived in various spots around the world. She is interested in world culture, and is skilled in the martial arts. She practices Tae-Kwon-Do, and is not afraid of people much bigger than herself, including Binky. She plays the saxophone. She can whistle, and though she is an only child, keeps in touch with her brother-like friend on the other side of the world. She is shown as a tan cat with a cream vest and a teal dress with curly orange hair contained in two ponytails. She originally had a plain hairstyle before the book Arthur's TV Trouble and the cartoon show.
Fern Walters is one of Arthur's classmates. She enjoys reading poetry and mystery novels (especially Sherlock Holmes). Fern's mother, Doria Walters, is constantly trying to get Fern to become more extroverted. Even Fern herself sometimes worries she is "too quiet". She is known for her realistic storytelling and being an amateur sleuth (at one time competing with Buster). One of her favorite authors is Persimmony Glitchet, a parody of famous author Lemony Snicket. She plays the flute. She is shown as a dog in a purple long sleeved blouse with yellow collars and cuffs, yellow pants, and a red ribbon in her hair. Although Fern had a shy personality early in the series, over the seasons she has grown more social and closer to Arthur and his classmates.
Prunella Deegan is 9 years old and a grade above Arthur and his friends, and as a result is somewhat snobbish and condescending towards the younger kids. She brags about winning competitions from last grade and tends to bring it up to Arthur and his friends. She is interested in yoga, fortune telling, paranormal phenomena and loves Henry Skreever, the series' parody of Harry Potter. She is shown as a peach colored poodle who wears a blue dress with a white collar and a purple bow in her hair.
The Tibble Twins - Timmy Tibble and Tommy Tibble - are twin bear cub boys at D.W.'s age, 5, who routinely exasperate Arthur, D.W., and most everyone with their mischievous and destructive antics. In an early episode in the first season, the characters at D.W.'s preschool who were mischievous were named Billy and Bobby. Billy and Bobby were later replaced by the Tibbles. Tommy wears a red scarf and Timmy wears a blue scarf. Though they are rather reckless and mischievous, they are actually quite sweet and good-hearted. They repent for many of their mistakes and live with their kind, though a bit weary, grandmother. In the books, they were humans.
Emily is D.W.'s 5 year old best friend and classmate. Unlike D.W, Emily is not bossy or rude, but instead, more polite and kind, although she is sometimes dishonest. She first met D.W. in a gymnastics class, and later became a regular character in the series. She is wealthy and a perfectionist. She often outshines D.W. in many activities, and D.W. often tries to outperform her, but with mixed results. She possibly has a French heritage because she is closely associated with French culture, and even has a French nanny. Emily was at first seen as a white rabbit with short blonde hair and a pink floral dress in the episode DW Flips. In the sixth season, her design changed to much longer hair, a blue floral dress, and a fuller chin. Emily is half rabbit and half monkey, and is the only trans-species character in the series so far.
David Loren Read is Arthur, D.W. and baby Kate's father. Mr. Read runs a catering business from home and is frequently shown garnishing trays of hors d'�uvre either in the family kitchen or in a custom-designed workshop behind the garage. Many of his recipes are questionable at first glance, and Arthur and D.W. often refuse to eat them, but at times they genuinely appreciate his cooking. He is shown in a white sweater with blue accents and khaki pants, and sometimes has an apron and chefs hat on. In the books, he generally wears different clothes.
Jane Read is Arthur, D.W. and baby Kate's mother. Mrs. Read is a work-at-home tax accountant. She has shaggy brown hair and wears a pink sweater with a white shirt underneath, and blue jeans. In the books, she generally wears different clothes. She is also from the Pittsburgh area, and knew Fred Rogers as a child.
Grandma Thora Read is Arthur, D.W., and baby Kate's paternal grandmother, who is quite caring, but is a poor cook, as revealed in the episode The Half-Baked Sale. Despite this, she was able to bake Arthur's birthday cake in one episode. She is a columnist. In a flashback in Clarissa is Cracked, Thora had three brothers. Gramdma Thora is David Read's mother. It is revealed in April 9th that she was in a car accident (but was not hurt) when David was Arthur's age. Grandma Thora is based on Brown's own grandmother Thora, who encouraged him by saving his childhood drawings in a bottom drawer.