Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Characters / ArthurOlderChildren

Go To

1[[WMG:[[center:[-''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' [[Characters/{{Arthur}} character index]]\
2'''Older Children''' | [[Characters/ArthurYoungerChildren Younger Children]] | [[Characters/ArthurAdultsAndPets Adults and Pets]] ]]]]-]
3
4[[foldercontrol]]
5[[folder:Common character tropes]]
6* BookDumb: Depending on the writer, any one of Arthur's immediate friends (except Brain), Arthur himself, or even the grown ups may be subject to this.
7* {{Bookworm}}: Every child character in the show has been seen in the library at least once.
8%% * ButNotTooForeign: Do any of the characters [[Ambiguously Brown appear to be their ethnicities or nationalities]]? Then again, they are anthropomorphic animals... [[FurryConfusion Or are they?]]
9* CartoonCreature: One of the commonly asked questions about the show is the subject of which animal some of the characters are. Arthur and his family are the most confusing since they do not look like aardvarks at all. Prunella is another character that's debated upon; it is undecided on whether or not she is a poodle or a rat. PBS says she's a rat but Marc Brown says she's a poodle.
10* ChildhoodFriends: The majority of the third-grade cast have known each other since preschool.
11* CloseKnitCommunity: Some episodes imply that the parents in Mr. Ratburn's class have all shared contact information with each other, while others make it clear that some of the parents are on a FirstNameBasis.
12* FreeRangeChildren: Arthur and co. are about only eight years old and are in third grade, yet they run all about Elwood City much like teens several years older. None of their parents seem to be concerned, with the exception of what happens in S2's "Lost!" where Arthur accidentally rides the bus line to the city limits. PlayedWith in an episode where for some reason, Brain and Binky think they're trapped at the soccer field and their moms forgot to pick them up. They go everywhere else in their neighborhood, but can't walk home?
13* GoodParents: All of the parents can count. What's interesting is that there are a rather startling number of examples of Arthur and D.W.'s parents not doing their job right (although when you consider the current length of the show, it's not entirely unexpected).
14* InformedSpecies: A lot of the characters fall into this. For example:
15** Arthur and his family look nothing like aardvarks. In the first book, ''Arthur's Nose'', they looked more like brown tapirs with noses that were too long, and after ArtEvolution did its thing they now look more like cartoony capybaras.
16** Francine and Muffy don't look much like monkeys. If anything, they just look like humans with large muzzles.
17** The Brain looks more like an aardvark (half African-American, half Caucasian) than a bear. The Tibbles don't look like bears either, if anything they just look like grey-skinned humanoids than actual bears.
18** George doesn't really look like a moose. A cartoony deer, sure, but a moose? Not really.
19** Binky looks very little like a bulldog aside from his floppy ears and the shape of his head. For one thing, he's yellow and he has a human nose.
20** Prunella is supposed to be a rat, but the ears and hair make her look more like a poodle.
21** Jenna for the most part looks like a cat... but for whatever reason she too has a human nose.
22* ItsTheBestWhateverEver: Many of the show's characters have webpages detailing such experiences.
23* LimitedWardrobe The characters all have characteristic outfits by which they are identified. Depending on the episode or the setting, they may be changed.
24* LivingProp: There are a number of such characters in Arthur, mostly recurring townspeople and the students in D.W.'s class. Of important note are a pair of rabbit kids who've been in Arthur's class since the S1, but are not as developed as their classmates (in 20 seasons, the male one has only talked five times, and the female one doesn't speak at all until season 19, where she gets a single DayInTheLimelight episode, aptly named "Maria Speaks"). It was confirmed at New York Comic Con 2013 that the two rabbit kids are indeed named Alex and Maria, and that the possibility of becoming Ascended Extras is open.
25* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Even though some characters have birthdays over the course of the show, the characters are shown to never physically age, outside of occasional flash-forward or fantasy. Lampshaded by D.W. in S1's "Arthur's New Year's Eve", suggesting that she's trapped in some kind of time warp that causes her to never get any older.
26* PunnyName: Most characters. The Crosswire family is probably the most obvious.
27* RenaissanceMan: Most of the kids in Arthur's class play a sport and an instrument and love to read. Even George, who struggles in these areas and starts off being shy and socially awkward, finds his stride as a carpenter and sports commentator.
28* RoundedCharacter: One of the top reasons for the show's success.
29* RotatingProtagonist: This is how things work, so different members of the cast get their own EpisodeTitleCard.
30* TrademarkFavoriteFood: There's a trademark favorite drink, at least in earlier seasons anyway, for the Read family. They are almost always seen drinking milk at meals.
31* WhiteBunny: Most of the rabbit characters are white.
32* WiseBeyondTheirYears: A number of characters, from D.W.'s friend Emily to Arthur and his friends. They're not your average third-grade kids, after all. One of the best examples is D.W. and her zany BatmanGambit to trick Arthur and The Brain to take her to the science exhibit in S4's "Prove It!", ''and it worked.''
33* ZanyScheme: Lampshaded by Arthur in "D.W. and Bud's Higher Purpose." During the intro, he explains D.W.'s propensity for this has gotten worse since she met Bud.
34[[/folder]]
35
36!3rd/4th grade and above cast
37[[folder:Arthur Timothy Read]]
38[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arthur0_7125.png]]
39-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MichaelYarmush (seasons 1–5; "All Grown Up" as an adult), Justin Bradley (season 6), Creator/MarkRendall (season 6 re-dub; seasons 7-8), Creator/CameronAnsell (seasons 9-11), Dallas Jokic (seasons 12-15), Drew Adkins (seasons 16-17), William Healy (seasons 18-19), Jacob Ursomarzo (seasons 20-21), Roman Lutterotti (seasons 22-25)
40-->'''Voiced in Swedish by:''' Leo Hallerstam
41
42The title character of the show. He and his family are aardvarks.
43----
44* AnthropomorphicShift: The very first Arthur book had him looking more like an actual aardvark.
45%% Doesn't explain what any reaction is. * BerserkButton:
46%% ** Do not mess with his model planes. D.W. learned this one the hard way.
47%% ** NEVER make fun of his glasses. Just ask Binky.
48%% ** Anything to do with "Crazy Bus" or people actually liking the song (appropriately enough).
49* BewareTheNiceOnes: Normally a good-natured NiceGuy, but it's ''not'' a good idea to anger him. When D.W. destroyed his model plane and chose to blame him instead of apologising for her actions, he ''erupted''.
50* BigBrotherBully: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. He isn't exactly a bully and he is teased by D.W. more often than the other way round, but he can be unfair or rude to her at times even if he won't admit it. For example, he has been known to cheat D.W. out of an hour of television time by changing the clocks, knowing that she can't tell the time.
51* BigEater: Has shown himself to be this at times, ''especially'' if cake is nearby.
52* BigYes: When he finds out that Buster is coming home from a LongBusTrip with his father in S3's "Buster's Back".
53--> *Answering the phone* Hello? Yeah. Yeah? '''YEAH!'''
54* BlackBeadEyes: Whenever without his glasses. However in earlier seasons and in any scene of him when he was younger he is typically seen with realistically drawn eyes.
55* ButtMonkey: Would become one in later seasons, where he was more prone to humiliation and misfortunes.
56* CatsAreMean: Was a firm believer of this, as exemplified in "Francine and the Feline (S3)"; as of "D.W.'s Furry Freak-Out (S12)" however, he seems to not mind them anymore.
57* CannotTellAJoke: An early episode revolved around Arthur trying to be funny for a school comedy play, only to find that he's awful at delivering jokes. He finds a different way to be humorous by playing the piano in a silly manner.
58* CharacterBlog: The Arthur Website/{{Facebook}} page.
59* CharacterTics: Arthur fiddles with his glasses when he's lying.
60* ComedicUnderwearExposure: Serves as the main plot point in "Arthur's Underwear", where Arthur becomes extremely paranoid that it will happen to him after witnessing a similar incident with Binky. All his various imaginings of this are played for laughs until he actually ''does'' split his pants, an incident he still hasn't quite gotten over.
61* CrazyConsumption: D.W., when imagining Arthur in a negative light, sometimes has him digesting cake either in one bite or in a mess. In "D.W. Gets Lost" [[spoiler: this actually happens]].
62* CrowdChant: Arthur gets one when he is cleared for embezzlement in "Arthur Accused!"
63* DeadpanSnarker: He's particularly snarky with D.W.
64--> '''D.W.:''' Where were you between six months ago and yesterday?
65--> '''Arthur:''' Listening to you whine about the snowball 24 hours a day.
66* DisproportionateRetribution: Punching D.W. in "Arthur's Big Hit". Granted, Arthur's anger was justified as he worked really hard on that model airplane and had repeatedly told D.W. not to touch it, but ''punching'' her in retaliation was too much.
67* DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp: In "[[Recap/ArthurS5E5TheLousyWeekYouAreArthur You Are Arthur]]," he stops to help [[spoiler:Muffy when she falls down during a race. This costs him the win to Brain, but also gets him a spot on the front cover of the Elwood City Times newspaper]].
68* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: Applies to the book version, where he starts out as an actual aardvark (looking more like an anteater), and would slowly change in design until he came to his current look. The show uses his current look from the beginning.
69* EyeGlasses: Has these. Was initially self-conscious about them, too.
70* TheEveryman: In sharp contrast to a group of widely varied friends with telling character traits. Lampshaded in S6's "Best of the Nest", when Arthur settles on "Just Plain Goose" as his player character for the titular game. This is extremely poignant when one considers that most of the later seasons' episodes focus on Arthur's friends more than Arthur himself.
71* EyeCam: Almost all of "[[Recap/ArthurS5E5TheLousyWeekYouAreArthur You Are Arthur]]" is shown from his point of view, literally.
72* {{Facepalm}}: A very brief one after [[DramaticDrop dropping the wedding ring]] in "D.W. Thinks Big".
73* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The Responsible to D.W.'s Foolish. Arthur is more level-headed and reserved than the latter, who is a [[BrattyHalfPint bratty]] MouthyKid.
74* FullNameUltimatum: Unlike D.W., he has only ever been issued one once throughout the show in S4's "Arthur's Big Hit," and it is lampshaded.
75-->'''Mrs. Read''': Arthur Timothy Read, come here!
76-->'''Arthur''': [[OhCrap Uh-oh, middle name.]]
77* GameShowAppearance: Arthur winding up on in-universe ''Riddle Quest'' in S5's "Arthur and the Big Riddle".
78* TheGenericGuy: Arthur is an average eight-year-old kid struggling through school and having to deal with an AnnoyingYoungerSibling. He is usually a normal kid who's also somewhat nerdy and a NiceGuy.
79* GuiltyPleasures: Arthur is secretly a fan of in-universe toddler's show named "Love Ducks". He keeps it a secret because (per the title of the S4 episode) "That's a Baby Show".
80* {{Headdesk}}:
81** He is so exhausted from pandering to his readers in S1's "Arthur Writes a Story" that he does a Double Headdesk.
82** He does it again in S8's "D.W., Dancing Queen", when he and his friends overhear D.W. tell everyone of his nightmares about his underwear, and even brought it to school for all to see.
83* HeroProtagonist: As the title character and de facto leader of his friend group. Faults aside, he's a [[NiceGuy nice kid]].
84* HellBentForLeather: He wears a leather jacket in S20's "Buster's Second Chance" combined with a CoolShades version of his normal glasses, in an alternate timeline where he never befriended Buster and became a Tough Customer instead.
85* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Buster.
86* HumiliationConga: "Arthur's Big Hit" in a nutshell. After punching D.W., he gets grounded, then all his friends get angry with him for what he did. Afterwards, he gets punched out by Binky only to get little sympathy from his parents.
87* HypocriticalHumor: He accuses his friends of "not being able to stand a little competition" when playing games with them in "Arthur the Loser". In this episode he resorts to cheating against all of his friends because he proved to be a SoreLoser before his scheme was uncovered.
88* IdiotBall:
89** "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh" represents such a moment of weakness for Arthur that it's unconvincing.
90** Arthur's cost-cutting ideas in "Arthur Read Super Saver" are more likely to come from the four-year-old-cast, like bathing in water from the Molinas' sprinklers, or trying to cut his family's water bill by getting Pal to lick food stains off the flatware.
91* ImpliedLoveInterest: Unlike in the books and ''VideoGame/LivingBooks'', where Francine's crush on him was very apparent, the cartoon at most implies it via ShipTease and showing them MarriedInTheFuture in sequences that could be either {{Imagine Spot}}s or {{Flash Forward}}s.
92* InformedSpecies: Thanks to ArtEvolution getting rid of his long nose, he doesn't particularly resemble an aardvark.
93* JerkassBall:
94** He was particularly nasty to Francine when she introduced him to her new cat Nemo in "Francine and the Feline", and was convinced Nemo would hurt Pal when at the time they were just playing. He never apologized for this, and it seems he wouldn't completely let go of his prejudices toward cats until later seasons.
95** In "So Funny I Forgot To Laugh", wherein he repeatedly makes fun of Sue Ellen's sweater even after she told him to stop, and on top of that, he sent her a BackhandedApology letter. Thankfully, [[JerkassRealization he realizes that he was acting like a jerk]] when Sue Ellen tries to switch classes.
96* KidHero: Naturally, since he's a third grader and the main protagonist.
97* LoserProtagonist: Becomes one in the later seasons, where he's more prone to having misfortunes befall him.
98* MarriedInTheFuture: To Francine in a few scenes that may be either {{Imagine Spot}}s or {{Flash Forward}}s.
99* MeaningfulName: Arthur ''Read''. Appropriate, given his love of books [[spoiler:and the fact that he grows up to be a picture book author]].
100* MusicalisInterruptus: The teaser for "That's a Baby Show!" has Arthur demanding a stop-down when Mary Moo Cow and co. randomly show up in his bedroom.
101* NerdGlasses: He's somewhat of a nerd and wears glasses.
102%%* NeverMyFault: He does not like admitting his mistakes.
103* NiceGuy: All faults aside, he is usually kind and sweet.
104* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The In-between to Kate's Nice and D.W.'s Mean. He is more mature and level-headed than D.W. and often has to put up with her behavior, but can have moments where he is unfair to D.W.
105* NonIndicativeName: The name "Arthur" means "bear", but he's an aardvark.
106* OfficialCouple: He is shown married to Francine in the future on multiple occasions, despite massive denial between each other in S2's "Arthur and the Square Dance".
107* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Frequently accused by D.W. of having stolen her snowball without any evidence; also he still hasn't forgotten the incident where he split his pants, the latter being so much so that Muffy urged him to forget it and move on.
108* OutOfCharacterMoment: Arthur making fun of Sue Ellen for wearing her sweater in "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh" was quite the eyebrow-raiser. Lampshaded by Mr. Ratburn.
109-->'''Mr. Ratburn:''' I was surprised too, Arthur. It doesn't seem like you, but when you continue to tease someone, even after they've asked you to stop, that's bullying.
110* PinocchioNose: Has an all-too-obvious habit of fiddling with his glasses when he lies.
111* ProtagonistTitle: The show is named after him.
112* TemptingFate: In "Arthur Babysits", Arthur boasts that babysitting is the easiest job on earth, having to take care of both D.W. and Kate. Then comes the first time when he must babysit the ''[[TricksterTwins Tibble twins]]'', who he said "didn't look so bad". And the rest is history.
113* SweetAndSourGrapes: In "[[Recap/ArthurS5E5TheLousyWeekYouAreArthur You Are Arthur]]", [[spoiler:stopping to help a fallen-down Muffy during a race costs him the win to Brain, but also gets him featured on the front cover of the Elwood City Times newspaper for helping Muffy]].
114* SweetTooth: Being a kid, he loves desserts. In "DW Gets Lost" he shoves an entire piece of chocolate cake into his mouth at once, and in "Just Desserts" he gets a stomachache after eating a bunch of candy and 2 slices of leftover wedding cake.
115%% * ThisLoserIsYou: Arthur could be described as this, DependingOnTheWriter.
116* TheUnapologetic: A few times, such as in "Arthur's Big Hit" when he refuses to apologize to D.W. for punching her, and in "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh", where he writes a BackhandedApology letter to Sue Ellen for making fun of her sweater. In each case, he insists that D.W. and Sue Ellen (respectively) should apologize to ''him''.
117* TurnTheOtherCheek: Played with. While he does often get angry at D.W.'s behavior, to the point of even punching her in "Arthur's Big Hit", and is forced to do favors for her by either herself or his parents, there are a few times when he does favors for her willingly, despite having the least reason to do so given her LackOfEmpathy towards him.
118** "Operation: D.W." is a notable example of this. When D.W. is forced to go to the hospital for an ear operation, Arthur is actually nice to her of his own will and even shows her compassion.
119** In "The Pageant Pickle", he agrees to perform in D.W.'s spring pageant because none of her friends would agree to. [[spoiler:However, turning the other cheek backfired on him that time, as D.W. was lying about none of her friends agreeing to perform and was merely using CrocodileTears to manipulate Arthur into humiliating himself in front of the pageant's audience]].
120* WouldHitAGirl: If punching D.W. in "Arthur's Big Hit" when she broke his model plane is any indication.
121* YoungerThanTheyLook: In a more [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] sense, some shots show Arthur at normal height for an eight-year-old, while other shots show him as looking tall enough to look eleven or twelve.
122* YoureInsane: Arthur to D.W. after the latter announces plans to live with Mary Moo Cow in S5's "The Last of Mary Moo Cow".
123[[/folder]]
124
125[[folder:Buster Baxter]]
126[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bubu_914.png]]
127-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DanielBrochu, Robert Bell (VideoGame/LivingBooks)
128-->'''Voiced in Swedish by:''' Nick Atkinson
129
130Arthur's best friend. He and his divorced parents are rabbits.
131----
132* AgainstMyReligion: In S7's "Buster's Amish Mismatch" when he became Amish after a field trip.
133* AgentMulder: Firmly believes in the existence of aliens.
134* AlliterativeName: '''B'''uster '''B'''axter.
135* AmateurSleuth: One of Buster's trademarks, often imitating hard-boiled PrivateDetective stories when he's on a case.
136* BadassBiker: Arthur imagines him as one if Buster was a teacher in S8's "D.W., Dancing Queen", complete with CoolShades, CoolBike, and a [[HellBentForLeather leather jacket]].
137* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The teaser for "Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble" ends with Buster wishing that Mr. Ratburn would disappear. In the aforementioned episode, when Mr. Ratburn loses his voice and has to go on sick day, his class ends up receiving substitute teachers that turn out to be worse at teaching than him.
138* BigEater: So much so that during a fantasy sequence in S3's "I'd Rather Read it Myself", D.W. imagines him as a robot that only exists to eat. One wonders just how the kid can stay lean. Often leads to CrazyConsumption. This became a plot point in S16's "Too Much of a Good Thing", where Buster has to prove to Arthur he can control his eating habits when a special scout cookie goes on sale.
139* BizarreTasteInFood: He loves eating so much that he's willing to try just about any combination of food, no matter how weird it is. One notable example is in "My Dad the Garbage Man", where he makes a new ice cream flavor that combines pizza and bananas; he loves it, but Mr. Ratburn is visibly disgusted after just one lick.
140* BookDumb: Zig-zagged. Buster is used to getting F's in class, nearly getting held back a year for it. He has misspelled Arthur's name and once spelled "soccer" with two K's and a Q. However, it is shown in episodes such as "Buster Makes the Grade" that [[BrilliantButLazy Buster can get good marks when he fully applies himself]]. His insight outside of the classroom though is usually a case of DependingOnTheWriter. The GrandFinale also reveals he grows up to be a collage professor.
141%%* ButtMonkey: He has his moments frequently.
142* ClearMyName: "Arthur Accused!"
143* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Extremely superstitious, and is very, VERY obsessed with extraterrestrial life.
144* CluelessDetective: As an AmateurSleuth, he's pretty terrible at it. He has no deductive skills and mostly makes wild, impossible theories based on nothing, such as in "Arthur Accused!" where he initially declares the missing quarters to have been eaten by shapeshifting robots. He "solves" his cases mostly by stumbling upon the answer by the accident.
145* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: None of his friends take his claims that aliens are real very seriously. However, the show does show that they do exist making him right.
146* DubNameChange: Boris Beisel in the German dub.
147* EarsAsHair: Buster's mother makes him wear an embarrassing shower cap when he goes swimming, but his ears are more prominent than most, and he's especially likely to get water inside them.
148* EurekaMoment: How Buster usually solves his cases. "Overflowing?" "That song!"
149* EveryoneHasStandards: Buster has no problem eating bizarre and rotten food, but in "To Eat or Not to Eat", he gets hold of a candy bar that contains strange ingredients and notices how his friends couldn't stop eating them, which compelled him to investigate.
150* ExpressiveEars: They droop when Buster is upset. "Buster Makes the Grade" is a good episode to watch if you want to see him doing this several times.
151* ExtremeOmnivore: Buster is willing to eat bizarre and rotten food.
152* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Often has this attitude towards his grades in school, being prone to poor marks due to his lack of focus. Usually PlayedForLaughs, but in "Buster Makes the Grade" when he risks repeating the third grade, it's treated as anything but.
153* GoofyBuckteeth: He is a rabbit with buck teeth who regularly eats bizarre and rotten food, and believes aliens are real.
154* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Arthur.
155* HypnoFool: In S11's "Buenas Noches, Vicita", Vicita can't go to sleep. D.W. tries several methods, including trying to get Buster to hypnotize her to sleep. A couple of seconds later...
156* {{Hypocrite}}: In "The Blizzard" he mocks Francine for not finishing her report on the pioneers when she was supposed to, which forces her to redo it even as the blizzard rages across town. Yes, the kid who is known to put off his work to the last minute and struggles to keep his grades up thinks he can lecture Francine on this mistake, earning him a well-deserved snowball to the face.
157* ItsAllAboutMe: In "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver", where the public's obsession with Buster's alleged "heroism" in rescuing a cat from a tree causes him to abuse his time in the limelight. He eventually got over it after the episode.
158* {{Keet}}: He's the most energetic and funniest of Arthur's friends.
159* TheLancer: A position shared with Francine, to contrast Arthur's [[TheHero Hero]].
160* LittleKnownFacts: Buster will believe anything he reads on the internet, as shown in S9's "Buster the Myth Maker".
161* MeaningfulName: Buster's street address is 7 Roswell Court. An alien spaceship is rumored to have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico.
162* NeverMyFault: He's hit with this when he does a history report and intends to open it with a joke for the class, and is furious when Binky beats him to the punch after hearing the joke from Buster earlier. Buster receives a "D" on his report, and openly blames Binky for it until Arthur makes him realize that it's his own fault that he put no effort into the actual assignment.
163* NewAgeRetroHippie: Dresses like this in "Mr. Ratburn And The Special Someone".
164* NiceGuy: He's a good guy and caring friend.
165* ObsessedWithFood: To accompany his BigEater trait, plenty of episodes revolve around his fixation on food. "Sleep No More" has him going to a pizza-themed theme park to participate in a pizza eating contest.
166* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: You can tell a food's really bad if ''[[ExtremeOmnivore he]]'' won't eat it.
167* OneTrackMindedArtist: The episode "Framed!" shows Buster is actually a pretty decent painter for someone his age, but he is only able to paint aliens. The episode’s conflict even comes from Muffy being unsatisfied with him painting portraits of her as an alien.
168* ThePigPen: Often shown to have poor hygiene; so much so that he was the only student at Lakewood Elementary not to be affected by an outbreak of head lice. Unfortunately, it is not unusual to see him eat stuff off the floor, neglect to wash himself, or display poor table manners. In "Germophobia" he briefly gets over it when he becomes Main/TerrifiedOfGerms.
169* PutOnABus: S2's "Arthur's Faraway Friend" has Buster leave the show to travel the world with his airline pilot father, which starts the spin-off show "Postcards from Buster". [[TheBusCameBack He comes back]] at the start of S3.
170* SkewedPriorities: Has had his moments of this. One notable instance was when he became angry with Binky for retelling a joke he made up in class that he intended to open his report with. When Buster gets a poor grade for his paper, he becomes obsessed with getting even with Binky, thinking that "stealing" his joke cost him the grade. It takes Arthur to point out that he failed due to his lack of effort on the actual subject of his report.
171* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: The main plot points of S3's "Buster's Back" and "The Ballad of Buster Baxter".
172* TerrifiedOfGerms: A plot point in S11's "Germaphobia;" his friends tell him that his typical behavior qualifies him as a slob, and it backfires.
173* UndyingLoyalty: He is loyal to his friends, especially Arthur.
174* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom:
175** Steals a Cyber Toy in "Nerves of Steal", stuffing it in Arthur's backpack and then must confess when guilt takes over. He not only gets Arthur in serious trouble when they get caught, but he is grounded an entire month with no dessert for his troubles.
176** In one episode he becomes careless with a high-powered telescope he bought to observe the stars, and for this gets a reading suggesting that a comet would hit the earth, eventually causing a panic among his peers. Thankfully, everyone found that the telescope was just missing a piece.
177* WildTake: In his nightmare in S1's "Arthur's First Sleepover".
178* YourMom: Told Binky his mother eats gym shorts in one episode. Binky didn't take it too well.
179[[/folder]]
180
181[[folder:Francine Alice Frensky]]
182[[quoteright:208:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/francine_3681.png]]
183-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JodieResther
184-->'''Voiced in Swedish by:''' Eleonor Telcs
185
186One of Arthur's closest friends. She's a tomboy and enjoys competition. Francine and her family are monkeys.
187----
188* AcademicAthlete: A mild case. In addition to being a PassionateSportsGirl, she generally makes pretty good grades; Mr. Ratburn has singled out her work as "superb" before, and she was one of Buster's main tutors in "Buster Hits the Books."
189* AesopAmnesia:
190** In early episodes, she would frequently tease her friends for her own amusement; In "Arthur Makes the Team" she apologizes for this habit to Arthur, only to tell him later that she gets to tease him again if he flunks basketball season.
191** In "Sue Ellen Gets Her Goose Cooked", she tells Sue Ellen to take a break from playing Virtual Goose. But just in the next episode "Best of the Nest", Francine herself forgets this after thinking that she won't be able to beat Muffy on the same game Francine told Sue Ellen not to overplay.
192* TheAce: Exceptionally good at almost every sport that exists, always has the last word with some witty or sarcastic reply, and is usually the one that ends up having to bail out one or all of her friends in some way or another. She might not be so good at badminton or skiing, if "The Good Sport" is any indication. Once she befriends Jenna, she will play badminton, but previously said it was "for wusses."
193* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Happens in "Francine Frensky, Superstar," when Francine gets the lead in a school play.
194* AlliterativeName: '''F'''rancine '''F'''rensky.
195* AnthropomorphicShift: Her very first appearance had her looking more like an actual monkey, including a long tail.
196%% Doesn't explain what the reaction is. * BerserkButton:
197%% ** Beating her in anything sports related.
198%% ** "A ''griffin''. A ''griffin''. A ''griffin''..." Note that this was in an ImagineSpot in S1's "Meek for a Week", showing what would happen if Francine kept her anger bottled up for too long.
199%% ** Insulting Hanukkah also qualifies, as seen in the Christmas special.
200* BreakTheHaughty: Francine has needed a little attitude adjustment from time to time when she gets a little too abrasive.
201* ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere: Suffers this when she tries fasting for Yom Kippur in "Is That Kosher?", and again when she decides to become vegetarian in "Sue Ellen Vegges Out".
202* {{Determinator}}: Always pushes herself to be the best at what she does, and doesn't respond well when something slows her down.
203* DreadfulMusician: Played with. She's a very good singer and skilled at playing the drums, but it's when she tries to do both at the same time that she sounds dreadful.
204* DubNameChange: Her first name is Franziska in the German dub.
205* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: In the first few books she wore dresses and her muzzle didn't blend into her face, making it more obvious she's a monkey.
206* EatingLunchAlone: Muffy lets her take the heat for cheating on a math test in "Arthur and the True Francine". Francine is too despondent to sit with company.
207* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The events described in the following entry take place in the second half of the first episode.
208* FemininityFailure: Francine tries to be feminine for one day, picture day, where she goes to school in a dress and refrains from playing kickball during recess so she'll be presentable for her photo. She ends up playing anyway, and being scruffy in the picture.
209* FriendlyRivalry: With the Brain when it comes to sports, as the two are closely matched when it comes to their physical skill. Not always the case though, as seen in "The Big Blow-Up".
210* HellIsThatNoise: Anytime Francine tries to sing and drum at the same time. It sounds more like she's just hollering, or as she puts it after (unknowingly) hearing herself on tape, "an elephant crushing Mr. Ratburn's car".
211* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Muffy.
212* HollywoodToneDeaf: Subverted by the end of S4's "To Beat or Not to Beat"; she isn't a bad singer, she just can't sing and drum at the same time. Although in later seasons, she would become a much better singer, and her drumming would rarely if ever be mentioned or seen.
213* {{Hypocrite}}: In "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh", she condemns Arthur for making fun of Sue Ellen, despite having made fun of Arthur and her friends on various occasions in the past.
214* HypocriticalHumor: Francine often criticizes other people for being mean, despite being a textbook example.
215* InformedAbility: Supposedly she can cook, as seen in "Love Notes for Muffy;" this has rarely been showcased since.
216* InformedJudaism: As revealed in ''WesternAnimation/ArthursPerfectChristmas'', she celebrates Hanukkah. Later episodes show her family attending synagogue and celebrating high holidays such as Yom Kippur. In the Christmas special, there is a possible slight implication that Francine is descended from [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Holocaust]] survivors when she tells Muffy that the menorah her family lit to celebrate Hanukkah was from her great-grandmother, who took it with her from UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}.
217* ItsAllAboutMe: Frequently guilty of this, especially when it comes to her involvement in sports.
218%% JerkJock: She gives off vibes of this.
219* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Depending on the writer, as there are plenty of episodes where Francine is not a jerk.
220* TheLancer: Shared with Buster.
221* LaserGuidedKarma: Will get hit with this whenever her teasing goes too far, most prominently in "Draw!" and "Vomitrocious!".
222* LittleMissSnarker: Has plenty of snark at her disposal.
223* ManiacMonkeys: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. She is a monkey and a bit of a JerkJock, but not evil.
224* MarriedInTheFuture: To Arthur in a few scenes that may be either {{Imagine Spot}}s or {{Flash Forward}}s.
225* OfficialCouple: [[ImpliedTrope Implied]]. She is shown married to Arthur in the future on multiple occasions, despite massive denial between each other in S2's "Arthur and the Square Dance", but it is ambiguous whether the sequences showing this are {{Imagine Spot}}s or {{Flash Forward}}s.
226* OnlySaneWoman: Occasionally fills this role, and is more often than not shown to have a good deal more common sense than some of the others.
227* PassionateSportsGirl: Francine is very athletic and loves sports, especially soccer, football, kickball, and bowling. The only sports she doesn't excel at are badminton and figure skating (which she dismisses as "girly"). Francine is very determined, perhaps even restless, and if she doesn't have an immediate knack for a certain sport or skill, she can become frustrated.
228* PrimaDonnaDirector: Becomes this in S1's "Francine Frensky, Superstar", being controlling and heavily demanding towards the others, though she does learn her lesson.
229* PlagiarismInFiction: Francine plagiarizes a school essay in "Francine's Pilfered Paper". While the full range of real-life consequences of plagiarism are discussed, Francine is only asked to repeat the assignment, and she ends up with a lower grade.
230* ShipTease: She insisted on doing the scene where Arthur as James Hound rescues the DamselInDistress in "Arthur Makes a Movie" and was keen to play spin the bottle at Arthur's birthday party, possibly in the hope of getting to kiss Arthur.
231* SlobsVersusSnobs: Between her and Muffy. She's the Slob, whereas Muffy is the Snob.
232* SoreLoser: One of her longtime trademarks; taken to new heights in "Arthur Calls It", where she berates Arthur for outing Buster in a baseball game in a play that was obscured to most observers and tries to discredit him, all because she was angry they had lost. Taken to an extreme in "The Good Sport", where she lost the Athlete of the Year Award to Jenna which she felt she was entitled to, and goes out of her way to make sure she knows this before finally coming to terms with it.
233* StockPunishment: The teaser for "Francine's Pilfered Paper" takes place in the Puritan era, and she is punished for plagiarism in this way.
234* TokenMinority: Francine's family is Jewish in an apparently mainly Christian community.
235* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Her and Muffy. Francine is a PassionateSportsGirl while Muffy is a vain RichBitch who loves fashion.
236* TookALevelInKindness: In earlier seasons she was notorious for her constant teasing of the others purely for her own amusement, but as of more recent seasons this bad habit has become far less frequent.
237* {{Tsundere}}: Comes off as this occasionally, especially towards Arthur.
238* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Main plot point in S1's "Francine Frensky, Superstar", where getting the lead role in the class play goes to her head and she starts bossing everyone around during rehearsals. Only after Mr. Ratburn intervenes (after what amounted to the entire class sabotaging the dress rehearsal for the play) is everything put back into place.
239* VegetarianForADay: She goes vegetarian in order to one-up Muffy, who also went vegetarian. After Sue Ellen (who is vegetarian for ethical reasons) calls them out, Francine goes back to normal.
240* VitriolicBestBuds: Despite being best friends, she and Muffy are constantly at odds with each other.
241* WeWantOurJerkBack: Happens in S1's "Meek For A Week"', which nearly caused the group's team to lose a hockey match. They got the jerk back when she got angry.
242* WithFriendsLikeThese: Her and most of the cast, but it is more prominent between her with Muffy. Sort of goes both ways with Muffy, considering the latter is so often a RichBitch, and appears totally clueless as to why Francine doesn't have the same amount of money or cool gadgets that she does--among other things Muffy is clueless about.
243[[/folder]]
244
245[[folder:Mary Alice "Muffy" Crosswire]]
246[[quoteright:222:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/muffy_5037.png]]
247-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MelissaAltro
248-->'''Voiced in Swedish by:''' Therese Reuterswärd
249
250Best friend of Francine, since her arrival in 2nd grade. Like the Frenskys, she and her family are monkeys.
251----
252* AesopAmnesia: Muffy's lessons in selflessness never seem to last more than an episode. Lampshaded in "Muffy's Art Attack", where she tried to take credit for a series of sculptures that were actually handcrafted by Bailey, just as she took all credit for the cookie recipe she and her friends made in "How the Cookie Crumbles"; Francine does not let this go unnoticed.
253* AlphaBitch: Muffy is often a stuck-up and a complete showoff who does not care to see things from other people's perspectives. She is even cruel to her friends from time to time.
254* BigDamnHeroes: In the computer-animated movie ''Arthur's Missing Pal'', [[spoiler:she has her limo pull out just in time to block the Mary Moo Cow truck that Pal is riding in from reaching the highway]].
255* BigFancyHouse: A sign of her unknowingly vast wealth, to the point where it actually has a ''mini amusement park'' inside of it.
256* BitchInSheepsClothing: When she was first introduced in the main cast in S1's "Arthur and the True Francine".
257%%* BreakTheHaughty: Happens to her semi-frequently.
258* ChainOfDeals: Utilizes a small one to get her hands on a World Girl doll in "Cents-less".
259* CharacterCatchphrase:
260** "Vomitrocious!"
261** "How rude!"
262* TheClan: Part of a family that is shown to be influential in the transportation industry.
263* CompetitionFreak: Much like Francine, except she excels in contests rather than in sports. This is most notable in "The Election", when she runs for class president against Arthur and takes every opportunity to put him down, blissfully ignoring the fact that no true prize was involved.
264* DubNameChange:
265** Molly in the French dub.
266** Melli Kauzmeier in the German dub.
267* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: She was originally drawn with buck teeth, but she loses them after the first season.
268* TheFashionista: Mostly in episodes where she has an opportunity to be in other clothes besides her standard dress.
269* {{Flanderization}}: Her (claimed) marketing knowledge.
270* GirlyGirl: The most traditionally feminine of the main group.
271* GracefulLadiesLikePurple:Her signature outfit is a lavender jumper dress, with matching hairbows.
272* HandsGoDown: Subverted in "Sue Ellen Adds it Up".
273--> '''Mrs. Bryan''': *Exasperated* Are you going to ask if you can paint the school pink, Muffy? \
274'''Muffy''': *Annoyed* I was going to say "salmon!"
275* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Francine.
276* {{Hypocrite}}:
277** In "The Election", Muffy resorts to mudslinging tactics, claiming that Arthur would bring his dog Pal to school and make a huge mess. When Arthur protests that Muffy isn't being fair, she scoffs at his remarks, dismissing them as a sign of naivety. Later, when Binky lists the things he would do if he were class president, Arthur is in favor of allowing Binky to enter the election, while Muffy is opposed to it, complaining that "it isn't fair", in contrast to her earlier statement that politics isn't fair.
278** In "Sue Ellen Vegges Out", Muffy and Francine attempt the vegetarian diet lifestyle; Muffy tries it because celebrity Capri Vapida finds it fashionable. Later, after Capri reverts to eating meat, Muffy decides to hold a party with meat-based dishes in an attempt to trick Francine into eating meat again, even going as far as throwing out the cauliflower and ratatouille dishes. Francine tries the collard greens, only to discover that they were simmered in duck fat. Just when Muffy is about to triumph, Sue Ellen calls Muffy and Francine out, stating that she became a vegetarian out of kindness to animals, considering them to be better friends than Muffy and Francine.
279* HypocriticalHumor:
280** Muffy regularly accuses people of being snobs, despite being a textbook example herself.
281** Her catchphrase, "How rude!", is usually spoken in a condescending manner or when she herself is doing something most would also consider rude.
282* InnocentlyInsensitive: She can be this, even outside her worst moments.
283** In "Stolen Bike" when she defends Francine from Buster who made a crack about Francine's old bicycle, during which Muffy also made unflattering remarks about said bike among other things. Francine was understandably put off.
284** In "Arthur's Perfect Christmas", she misses Francince after her Christmas party and wants to be with her friend. But her is mostly imagining herself enjoying lavish treatment while Francine works herself to the bone as her servant in situations such as her being a princess.
285* IntergenerationalFriendship:
286** In "The Butler Did... What?", Muffy thinks she has this kind of relationship with Bailey, but Francine points out that she barely knows him personally. To be fair to Muffy, however, the two are pretty close to one another before she gets to know him better by the end of the episode.
287** Later episodes show her ''trying'' to have a full version of this with Bailey, though her conversations with him still show shades of ego. For example, Bailey helps Muffy reconnect with her old imaginary friend--but first, he has to reassure her she actually has an imagination.
288* ItsAllAboutMe: Very much, but in later seasons, certain events have mellowed her at different times. For example, she's very upset when she realizes her desire for a bouncy house will result in [[spoiler: losing the cherry tree she's had since she was a kid.]] She also now helps out in a thrift store on occasion.
289* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite her flaws, Muffy has a knack for being friendly, cares a lot about her friends, and loves to hang out with them.
290* LackOfEmpathy: She often has trouble seeing things from other people's perspectives.
291* LargeHam: She can be ''really'' dramatic when she wants to be.
292* LotsOfLuggage: Muffy tends to struggle without her luxuries, and tries to bring them along when she travels.
293* LovableAlphaBitch: She learns from her mistakes and she can be a nice girl.
294* ManiacMonkeys: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. She is a monkey and a bit of a RichBitch, but not evil.
295* ManipulativeBitch: She will do anything to get her way, even if this means lying.
296* MeaningfulName: Her street address is 1250 Nouveau Lane. Her family is Nouveau Riche, or new money, as explained below.
297* NiceToTheWaiter: To her butler/chauffeur, Bailey.
298* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Nobody calls Muffy "Mary", not even her parents, although her mom did give her a FullNameUltimatum (Mary Alice Crosswire) in S1's "The Scare Your Pants Off Club".
299* PlotAllergy: In "Poor Muffy", Muffy turns out to be allergic to new carpeting in her house. She stays with the Frenskys for about a week while it's removed.
300* RichBitch: She is often labeled a snob and spoiled because of her wealth, condescending attitude, and frequent selfishness.
301* SlobsVersusSnobs: Between her and Francine. She's the Snob, Francine's the Slob.
302* SoreLoser: While not quite as bad as Francine, she has many such moments. Taken to new heights in "The Election", where she blames Arthur for her losing a class election that didn't award anyone any real power.
303* SpoiledBrat: Her rudeness is likely caused by her wealthy upbringing. "[[Recap/ArthurS11E9DWOnIceSpoiledRotten Spoiled Rotten]]" focuses on this trait of hers and has her learn to be more charitable... [[AesopAmnesia not that it sticks in later episodes]].
304* TokenRichStudent: She's the daughter of a very rich business tycoon and lives in a huge mansion with her butler serving her every whim, but she still attends the same public elementary school as the other characters.
305* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Her and Francine. Francine is a PassionateSportsGirl while Muffy is a vain RichBitch who loves fashion.
306* UpperClassTwit:
307** In S13's "The Great [=MacGrady=]", it's shown that she literally ''does not know how'' to do dishes. She simply squirts some dishwashing liquid onto the sink full and expects that to do the job.
308** In "Family Fortune", she is totally oblivious to the fact that her great-grandmother's priceless sapphire necklace was actually made of simulants; thinking this meant it was valuable, she is horrified to learn it's actually a worthless piece of costume jewelry, and that her great grandmother had almost certainly been conned into buying it off of someone claiming to be royalty. Even more egregious, neither her great-grandmother nor anyone in the family made any effort to confirm its authenticity in all the years it has been treated as a family heirloom.
309** When she learns her family history, she's actually shocked and disgusted when she finds out her family is not akin to royalty, but rather she's descended from commoners and most of her family's wealth comes from her dad's used car business.
310** She thinks that using a credit card is not the same as spending money.
311* VegetarianForADay: She temporarily goes vegetarian in order to emulate a celebrity.
312* VitriolicBestBuds: Despite being best friends, she and Francine are constantly at odds with each other.
313* WillNotTellALie: In the teaser for "Arthur and the True Francine" Muffy lies to her friends that she has never told a lie. The episode itself shows that [[BlatantLies she lied about a lot of things]] when she first came to Elwood City.
314* WithFriendsLikeThese: Her and Francine. A particularly egregious example is in the episode "My Club Rules" where in Muffy basically decides [[LocalHangout the treehouse]] isn't good enough for her and that she'll start her own club. Muffy basically begins a chain of everyone acting like jerks to everyone else to go form their own clubs.
315* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: This is how Muffy responds when she learns that she has to go without spending money for a whole weekend.
316[[/folder]]
317
318[[folder:Alan "The Brain" Powers]]
319[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brain_promo_1999.png]]
320-->'''Voiced by:''' Luke Reid (seasons 1-4), Steven Crowder (seasons 5-6, Arthur's Perfect Christmas), Alex Hood (seasons 7-9) Paul Stuart Brown (seasons 9-11), James Buckholder (Arthur's Missing Pal), Lyle O'Donohue (seasons 12 to 15), Siam Yu (seasons 16-18), Max Friedman Cole (season 18-21), Evan Blaylock (seasons 22-25)
321-->'''Voiced in Swedish by:''' Linus Wahlgren
322
323A young bear, and the smartest among Arthur's friends.
324----
325* AcademicAthlete: Brain is academically brilliant and great at chess. However, he's also great at basketball and soccer.
326* TheAce: Besides his intelligence, it is shown that he is also good at various sports. He and Francine are often partners for sport-centric episodes. Academics seems to come more naturally to him. Sports, he has claimed that he practices hard for.
327* TheBartender: At his parents' ice cream shop in later seasons.
328* TheBGrade: Brain gets a B- on a test in S9's "Breezy Listening Blues" and concludes that the breezy listening music his parents recently started playing in their music shop is having a deleterious effect on his studies.
329* BigWhat: His reaction to his early demise in "Best of the Nest".
330* BlackAndNerdy: He's an animal like everyone else — a bear to be exact — but he celebrates Kwanzaa and has relatives in Senegal.
331* BookSmart: He is the smartest student in Mr. Ratburn's class. He is regularly shown getting As, and knows a lot about science, astronomy, and literature.
332* ChildProdigy: He is absolutely brilliant. He's written out of "Buster Spaces Out", wherein the other kids need help building and launching a model rocket. Instead, Carl offers to help, and serves as the team's risk assessor.
333* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Certainly not as much as someone like [[AgentMulder Buster]], but being the most ridiculously smart in the gang he occasionally will overthink and theorize things to ludicrous extremes, which usually just leaves everybody else bewildered.
334* CurbStompBattle: Is easily beaten at chess by the more skilled Rattles in S16's "Brain's Chess Mess".
335* DependingOnTheWriter: Brain tends to range between TheSmartGuy who offers helpful information when needed, a StopHavingFunGuy who pops everyone's bubble, and a ChildProdigy who knows how to casually make things some scientists don't know how to make.
336* DitzyGenius: He's so smart that he overthinks things.
337* DubNameChange:
338** In the French dub, his first name is changed to Ala''i''n, with "Lumière" being the equivalent to "The Brain".
339** In the German dub, he's known as "Schlaubi". It is a short form of the German word "Schlauberger", which translates to "smart-aleck".
340* FriendlyRivalry: With Francine when it comes to sports, ''usually''.
341* IHatePastMe: He was held back in Kindergarten due to emotional issues, something he didn't want his friends in the third grade to know about.
342* HeldBackInSchool: It was revealed in the season 11 episode "Brain's Shocking Secret" that he was held back in Kindergarten due to him being deemed too emotionally immature.
343* InnocentlyInsensitive: Occasionally slips into this when displaying his intelligence, but often more so when he insists on being logical about every small thing. A good example is when he did not trust Sue Ellen to hold up her end of a report they were doing together, and cut her off completely for fear she'd ruin his grade; as Francine points out to him, this was one of his worst habits. Another example is while Buster is away traveling he steps in to help Arthur finish their Robin Hood story, removing all of Buster's fantastical elements for what's scientifically accurate. In the early episode "Arthur's Underwear" Buster asked him for advice on Arthur's underwear nightmares and he tries to help Arthur unknowingly invading his privacy as he didn't know Arthur didn't want people to know.
344* InsufferableGenius: Can slip into this at times. It becomes a plot point in "Bugged".
345* MeaningfulName: Alan ''"Brain" Powers''. Appropriate, since he's the most intelligent of his group of friends. Also a PunnyName.
346%% MrExposition
347* NerdsLoveToughSchoolwork: The only one in class who doesn't groan when given a big homework assignment.
348* NoNameGiven: It's not really considered appropriate for teachers to address students by their nicknames. Even though it was fudged at first, it was awkward. It didn't become a problem until the TV show began, both because the book narration is from Arthur's perspective and because it is in the third person. Circumstances were such that The Brain had to have a given name, and "Alan" is adorable without being difficult to swallow.
349* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "The Brain" is only referred to as such by his peers.
350* OpeningShoutOut and InternalHomage: The latter of the two is an EpisodeTitleCard, shown in S3's "And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids".
351* ThePerfectionist: Being hyper-intelligent, he strives for academic perfection. Becomes a major plot point in "Sue Ellen and the Brainasauros" when he and Sue Ellen are teamed up to do a report, and Brain insists on doing all of the work, which frustrates Sue Ellen to no end. Francine reveals that this has been a bad habit of Brain's since they were small, never trusting his friends to do a good job for fear they'd just bring him down. He finally understands how insensitive he was and finally trusts Sue Ellen with her part in the report.
352* SanitySlippage: Brain is usually the most calm and approachable of all the kids, but when he feels he's been wronged in some way, he'll become darn near psychotic and start giggling crazily, trying to plot revenge.
353* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He was the one working on {{Antidisestablishmentarianism}} before the spelling bee in S1's "Arthur's Spelling Trouble".
354* SoreLoser: Nowhere near as bad as Francine, but he has his moments. In "Love Notes For Muffy" he tries to get revenge on Muffy for bribing the judges in a science fair they had competed in, where it's implied he felt he was a more deserving winner (Ultimately neither of them do); In "Arthur and the Spelling Bee" the Brain misspells the word "Fear" at the Spell-athon and is thus eliminated, to which he bitterly asks what dictionary was being used.
355* TheSmartGuy: A ChildProdigy par excellence.
356* SpockSpeak: As a, well, brainy type, he tends to employ a rather formal sentence structure as well as a preference for technical terms.
357* {{Technobabble}}: Talks like this a lot, which leaves everyone confused.
358* TokenMinority: Brain and his family seem to be the only major African-American characters in the show, what with Brain's friendship and Arthur and all.
359* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes:
360** He was afraid to go to a pool party because of his aquaphobia, though later seasons remove it, implying that The Brain got over his fear.
361** S18's "Shelter from the Storm" reveals that he's scared of hurricanes to the point of being outright ''traumatized'' by them, and he has to see a therapist when one strikes Elwood City.
362[[/folder]]
363
364[[folder:Shelley "Binky" Barnes]]
365[[quoteright:209:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/binky_9551.png]]
366--> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/BruceDinsmore
367-->'''Voiced in Swedish by:''' Linus Wahlgren
368
369Another one of Arthur's friends. Due to being retained, he's the oldest and biggest student in Mr. Ratburn's class. He and most of his family are bulldogs.
370----
371* TheBigGuy: The biggest and toughest of the main group.
372* BigNo: Binky busts out an epic one after a nightmare in S9's "Binky Goes Nuts".
373* TheBully: Moves away from this as the series progresses. HiddenDepths are eventually revealed, which moves towards the GentleGiant. [[spoiler:He ultimately decides that he and the other Tough Customers give up bullying altogether in S16's "The Last Tough Customer"]].
374* BullyBulldog: He's a bulldog and he starts out as a typical schoolyard bully, but he gradually subverts this trope as his HiddenDepths are revealed and he becomes more of a GentleGiant.
375* ChainedHeat: Ends up handcuffing himself to Fern in "Dueling Detectives" in an attempt to arrest her for stealing George's puppet, only he loses the key and they end up handcuffed together for the rest of the episode.
376* CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of the series, he goes from a tough school bully to a GentleGiant as more of his HiddenDepths are explored.
377* CoolBigBro: He's very nurturing and helpful with Mei-Lin, his younger sister.
378* CouldSayItBut: Binky telling Buster how to liberate his confiscated toy car in "Buster the Lounge Lizard".
379* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference:
380** In the books his ears were originally drawn flatter on his body and he was fatter.
381** In the first five seasons of the series, he had a darker fur tone of yellow.
382* EpisodeTitleCard: Binky blows a bubble gum bubble so big that he is CoveredInGunge when [[BubblegumPopping it pops]], and he gets stuck in the title card circle.
383* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: He may be a school bully, but [[MommasBoy he dearly loves his mother]]. That being said, insult her within earshot at your own peril.
384-->'''Rattles:''' [[ThatCloudLooksLike That cloud looks like]] Mrs. Barnes wearing combat boots!
385-->'''Binky:''' Oh, yeah? Well, ''that'' cloud looks like me giving you a wedgie!
386* EveryoneHasStandards:
387** Binky picks on George on a regular basis, but in "The Last Tough Customer" he's horrified when Molly [[KickTheDog makes George cry by cruelly making fun of his dyslexia]].
388** In "Arthur's Big Hit", he felt guilty after he hits Arthur (since he gave into the peer-pressure). The next day, he apologizes to Arthur and decides to "de-found" his club as ''he'' finds it very dumb to force someone to do something they don't want to do.
389* FatBastard: A heavy-set elementary student who's a Tough Customer, and a school bully. The early seasons played the trope straight, but as the show revealed his CharacterDevelopment and HiddenDepths, it became a subverted trope.
390* FriendToAllChildren: He may be a bully to slightly younger kids, but he has a real knack for getting along with significantly younger kids. He befriends D.W. in S3's "The Chips are Down" (to the bafflement of Arthur and friends) and her friend Emily in S13's "The Good, the Bad, and the Binky". He is also a great big brother to Mei Lin.
391* GagNose: Has the largest nose of the ''Arthur'' cast. Marc Brown stated it was inspired by a classmate who bullied him and had a potato-like nose.
392* GentleGiant: A tall, buff kid with a good heart.
393* HeelFaceTurn: Goes from being a school bully and Tough Customer, to a GentleGiant who is one of Arthur's close friends. What started it was Sue Ellen standing up to him in S1's "Bully for Binky".
394* HiddenDepths: He's highly cultured and is both a talented ballet dancer and clarinet player. He even admits that being held back has made him very insecure, which led to him becoming a bully.
395* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide: His HiddenDepths reveal an interest for hobbies stereotypically tied to femininity and sensitivity such as theater, dance (especially ballet), art, music, culture, and the likes.
396--> "I like to read books with lots of pretty flowers. ''(everyone stares at him)'' [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial ...Being crushed by a giant pterodactyl!"]]
397* {{Irony}}: Binky, who has the kind of effeminate behaviors which would make a big guy like him especially likely to be teased, harasses Arthur in "Arthur and the Square Dance" because he's convinced himself that Francine is in love with Arthur.
398* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Seems to vary from sensitive soul who acts tough to genuinely stupid DependingOnTheWriter.
399* LethalChef: We find out Binky is this when he tries to make dessert for Christmas dinner at a soup kitchen. His attempts include pecan pie with shells and banana bread with peels. Perhaps most egregiously, he forgets to add sugar to his brownies.
400* LockedOutOfTheLoop: In "The Squirrels", he is the only one who has never seen the titular movie (he has never even heard of it) and thus didn't gain a fear of squirrels as a result. Until the end.
401* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: [[spoiler:His great-grandfather, Shelley Barnes.]]
402* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Played straight and subverted; as the school bully, his name used to strike fear into the kids at Lakewood Elementary. But then when you remember that "binky" is another word for pacifier, it loses this.
403* OddFriendship: With D.W., ever since S3's "The Chips Are Down". Arthur and his friends are left completely baffled by this.
404* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: [[spoiler: S15's "What's in a Name" reveals that Binky is indeed not his real name. It is, in fact, Shelley, named after his great grandfather. Not only do his parents not call him this, even Binky ''himself'', didn't know.]]
405* PlotAllergy: Though earlier episodes imply otherwise, Binky is allergic to peanuts.
406* PaperTiger: It is established in both "Bully for Binky" and "Arthur's Big Hit" that Binky relies solely on his size to intimidate others and has never actually fought anyone before. In the former, Sue Ellen stands up to him and the two agree to fight, but Binky finds out that Sue Ellen studies Tae Kwon Do and wisely attempts to back out, which Sue Ellen luckily agrees to. And in "Arthur's Big Hit" he's pressured by the other Tough Customers into hitting Arthur as a loyalty test. Binky doesn't want to hurt Arthur, but actually does give in and do it. Binky apologized to Arthur for hitting him and temporarily de-founded the Tough Customers.
407* RealMenWearPink: Sleeps with a night light and takes ballet classes. Seems the longer the series continues, the less he tries to hide it. Heck, his shirt is even sort of pinkish-orange!
408* SarcasmBlind: He has his moments of this, such as in "Best of the Nest" when he asks his Dad if he can have a computer, to which he was told "when it snows in July". He goes out of his way to ask his friends if it's gonna be cold over the summer.
409* TheSixthRanger: He has his own club, but will sometimes hang out with the main group.
410* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In S9's "D.W., Dancing Queen", when Rattles and Molly catch Binky teaching D.W. how to dance (for a school project) and confront him about it, he says he's teaching her martial arts. They buy it.
411* TookALevelInKindness: Gradually over the course of the series as he becomes genuine friends with the gang. Even more so after the adoption of his baby sister Mei-Lin.
412* TrademarkFavoriteFood: He loves Chinese food, especially (peanut-free) egg rolls.
413* UnmanlySecret: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] like crazy. When his character first starts developing unmanly interests (such as dancing ballet), he tries to hide them, but then gets found out anyway. Though some people try to make a big deal of it at first, his perceived fierceness and reputation as a bully allows him to quell any teasing or bullying simply by growls, posturing and death glares. In later seasons, he still sometimes tries to hide it, but just as often is open about it. In Season 15's "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," he doesn't care one bit that his friends in the Tough Customers gang know that he's going to be performing in a clarinet solo, but is terribly afraid that one of them might find out that he still sometimes holds his mother's hand. When they do find out anyway, they chew him out... for not having a juicier, more embarrassing secret!
414* MeaninglessVillainVictory: In "The Election"; while not a villain per se, he still essentially hijacks the election from Arthur and Muffy when he makes wild promises if elected class president. When he does win, he thinks he has the authority to go so far as to ''end homework'', unaware that it was merely a mock election. One quick chat with Mr. Ratburn quickly sucks the wind out of his sails.
415* WeWantOurJerkBack: Happens to Binky occasionally.
416* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: A focal point in S2's "Night Fright", as Binky can get really scared in the dark.
417[[/folder]]
418
419[[folder:Sue Ellen Armstrong]]
420[[quoteright:244:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sue_ellen_promo_951.png]]
421--> '''Voiced by:''' Patricia Rodriguez (season 1-8), Jessica Kardos (seasons 9-25)
422
423Arriving in the show in 3rd grade, she and her family are cats.
424----
425* ActionGirl: Shown to be skilled in martial arts, particularly Tae-Kwon-Do.
426* BewareTheNiceOnes: Generally a very nice girl, but she is ''not'' afraid to tell someone off if she thinks they're acting out of line. Binky found this out the hard way, when she agreed to a confrontation with him (Something even ''Francine'' was not willing to do) and frightens him with the mere mention of her skill at Tae-Kwon-Do.
427* CarnivoreConfusion: Sue Ellen is a cat. Ratburn is a rat. But they seem to get along fine. There's some sort of humor in the cat character being the vegetarian.
428* TheDeterminator: Usually a force to be reckoned with once she's set her mind to something; In one episode, she's the only one in the class with the nerve to protest the near-closure of the Sugar Bowl. She was also the first kid to stand up to Binky, eventually prompting him to steer away from bullying.
429* DubNameChange:
430** Suzie in the French dub.
431** Sabine in the German dub.
432* EveryoneHatesMath: Apparently, Sue Ellen and her parents aren't that good at math; when it comes time to measure things, they manage by using estimation.
433* GirlishPigtails: She wears a pair of them on each side of her head, except they're bunched up and curly.
434* GranolaGirl: She becomes one in S8's "Sue Ellen Chickens Out". "Sue Ellen Vegges Out" gives her another level of this, when she decides to become a vegetarian after befriending a pig at a farm she visited. [[note]] Not unlike another [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons girl her age]][[/note]]
435* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Compared to George, she's more brave and outgoing.
436* NiceGirl: One of Arthur's nicest friends.
437* OnlySaneWoman: Occasionally fills the shoes of this role.
438* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: If she ever expresses fear over ''anything'', you know something bad is afoot.
439* ReallyMovesAround: Her father is a diplomat, so her family has moved around a lot and lived in several different countries before they settled down in Elwood City. She has a lot of interest in different cultures as a result.
440* ShipTease: S2's "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary" hints that Sue Ellen may have a crush on Arthur, following a debacle with her diary. This is a throwback to the book "Arthur's Valentine" where Arthur has a crush on the new student (Sue Ellen).[[note]] It's also worth noting that Marc Brown has said she was based on his "girlfriend" when he was younger.[[/note]]
441%%* SiblingsWanted: Main plot point in S2's "Sue Ellen's Little Sister". Come to the point where she spends time with D.W. however...
442* SixthRanger: Not always in the main group, but important whenever she is.
443* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Plays the tomboy to Fern's girly girl on occasion.
444* VegetarianForADay: She goes vegetarian after befriending a (non-anthropomorphic) pig. It's unknown if it sticks though.
445[[/folder]]
446
447[[folder:Fern Walters]]
448[[quoteright:258:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fern_8114.png]]
449-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HollyGauthierFrankel
450
451Originally a background character, she and her family are dogs. Fern is generally shy, but has quite an interest in literature, specifically the horror and mystery genres.
452----
453* AmateurSleuth: Fern, like Buster, has this as one of her trademarks. In sharp contrast to Buster though, Fern prefers classic novelized detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Literature/HerculePoirot and Literature/MissMarple, sometimes imitating any of them when she's on a case.
454* AscendedExtra: Until S1's "I'm a Poet", she was a relative LivingProp. Lampshaded by Francine once Fern is finally driven to speak after getting angry thanks to Binky.
455-->'''Francine:''' That's the most she's said all year!
456%% Doesn't explain what the reaction is. * BerserkButton: Don't insult her hobbies.
457* BewareTheNiceOnes: She's normally a good-natured ShrinkingViolet, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to mess with her. Francine and the Brain find this out firsthand in S2's "Draw!" and S12's "War of the Worms" respectively.
458* ChainedHeat: Binky handcuffs her to himself when he jumps to the conclusion that she stole George's puppet. They stay that way for the rest of the episode "Dueling Detectives" due to Binky losing the key.
459* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Not to Buster's extent, but still pretty out there.
460* TheDreaded: Arthur, Muffy, and Buster become terrified of her for a majority of "Fernkenstein's Monster" thanks to her really frightening story about a [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant man-eating insect]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext that mimics an umbrella]].
461* DubNameChange: Flo in the French and German dubs.
462* EpisodeTitleCard: A shot, taken from S10's "Fern and Persimony Glitchet", that shows her writing. The difference between the other, louder title cards is symbolic of her quiet nature.
463* JitterCam: The intro to "Fern's SlumberParty". This does not help Fern at all.
464* LetsSeeYOUDoBetter: Fern dares her classmates to put up or shut up when they insult her hobby.
465* MaamShock: Her reaction to Binky declaring that the area where Wally is stolen is a crime scene:
466-->"Ma'am?...Crime scene?...'''Ma'am?!'''"
467* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: She has this in "War of the Worms" upon learning that the Brain is rallying the kids against worms as a result of her scary prank on him, even outright saying "What have I done?".
468* NightmareFetishist: Along with mysteries, Fern is ''very'' fond of reading and telling scary stories. She's known to enact scary pranks on people, or imagine terrible things happening to people while she smiles about it. She's also the only one who enjoys the ''Grotesquely Grim Bunny'' comics, which her other friends find too scary for them.
469* SensitiveArtist: Fern is a ShrinkingViolet and an amateur writer with a particular interest and skill in the mystery and horror genres. Sometimes she feels sad for days on end for no apparent reason.
470* ShrinkingViolet: She's initially very shy and unsure about socializing with others, though the first episode to really focus on her, "I'm A Poet", shows that she's still not one to mess with if she gets angry. As the show progresses, she [[CharacterDevelopment becomes more out-going and socializes more]], though she still retains a bit of shyness.
471* SignatureHeadgear: She wears a big red bow on her head that she's rarely seen without.
472* SixthRanger: Not a part of the main group, but still an occasional friend.
473* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Plays the girly girl to Sue Ellen's tomboy on occasion.
474* UnaccustomedAsIAmToPublicSpeaking: Her mom makes her throw a slumber party to improve her confidence. When it works, Fern's mom [[BreakingTheFourthWall gloats a little to the audience]].
475[[/folder]]
476
477[[folder:George Lundgren]]
478[[quoteright:308:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/george_promo_726.png]]
479--> '''Voiced by:''' Mitchell Rothpan (season 1-7, APC, [=AIORnR=]), Evan Smirnow (season 8), Eleanor Noble (seasons 9-11; seasons 14 - present), Samantha Reynolds (seasons 12-13)
480
481Originally a minor character in the background, he is a moose [[note]] Or perhaps a reindeer, given that his mother also has antlers [[/note]]; a rare sight in the show. He is a young boy who has special talent in wood-carving and building, and is a skilled ventriloquist. He is often accompanied by Wally, his giraffe dummy.
482----
483* TheAnnouncer: Takes up this hobby in "Baseball Blues".
484* AscendedExtra: Though George existed since the beginning of the show, it was quite a long time before he was made into a full-fledged character, in S3's "Arthur's Dummy Disaster". Since then there have been more George-centric episodes.
485%% * BerserkButton: Before learning that he was dyslexic, he took great offense to Francine questioning his ability to read.
486%% --> '''Francine:''' George, can you read?\
487%% '''George:''' Of course I can read! ''What do you think I am,'' '''''stupid?!'''''
488* BigNo: Three instances:
489** S8's Desk Wars, when his bubble-gum stegosaurus model is destroyed.
490** S9's George Blows His Top, when Arthur asks him if George can tell him the time. He replies, "NO!! What is it with you people? GET YOUR OWN WATCH!!"
491** S14's "Follow the Bouncing Ball", where his painstakingly arranged dominoes are knocked over by Francine.
492* BullyAndWimpPairing: If often paired with Binky, with the two of them either having a bully and victim relationship, or other times an odd friendship with each other. Specifically one episode has Blinky helping George to become tougher, though it didn't really work out.
493* ButtMonkey: He is often the subject of Binky's bullying in the earlier seasons prior to his characterization. Once he becomes more important, he still frequently gets forgotten or ignored by his friends.
494* ConsultingMisterPuppet: ...Who is regularly poached for advice.
495* ForgettableCharacter: Initially ''nobody'' could remember him. It's gotten better recently, but still occasionally comes up.
496* HiddenDepths: He's a remarkably good carpenter for his age, even constructing a life-sized, fully functioning replica of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine. In the same episode, Mr. Ratburn comments on his creative story ''The Dummy in the Closet'', which he describes as being "reminiscent of [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Poe.]]" Much later in the series, it's also shown that he's an excellent baseball commentator, with Buster's mom's boyfriend Harry saying that George may very well be able to make a career out of it when he's older.
497* LIsForDyslexia: Although the original portrayal is closer to AttentionDeficitOohShiny.
498* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Compared to Sue Ellen, he's more shy and gentle.
499* MrImagination: Has many imagination sequences.
500* MysteriousProtector: This is George's entire relationship with his classmates, until they get to know him.
501* NiceGuy: He's pretty nice for the most part, even if he is TheFriendNobodyLikes. His kindness is best exemplified when he shows great respect to Carl, who is neurologically different from the rest of the main cast, and does not let his differences get in the way of their friendship.
502* OnlySaneMan: On occasion; a notable example is "Do You Speak George?" when everyone insists on speaking only their own made up languages.
503* RunningGag: He has won numerous contests and awards, despite his status as the ButtMonkey. In S15's "What's In a Name?" he is genuinely shocked [[SubvertedTrope when he does not win the class Thinker Award]], which instead went to Binky.
504* SixthRanger: The main group frequently forget he even exists, so he only tags along on occasions.
505* ThrowTheDogABone: He's awkward, has been picked on, has some difficulty in school due to dyslexia, and is not very good at most sports, but has won a quiz show as well as contests in disciplines such as carpentry and dance. Some of these victories come as a kind of tag, being revealed after other characters lose the same competition to being preoccupied with something like a disagreement.
506* TruthInTelevision: Students with disabilities can submit exams and assignments in an alternate format, if they have documented their disability in advance.
507* {{Ventriloquism}}: With Wally.
508[[/folder]]
509
510[[folder:Prunella Deegan]]
511[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prunella_promo_3939.png]]
512--> '''Voiced by:''' Tamar Kozlov (TV series), Creator/WendeeLee (Arthur's Missing Pal), Bianca Rasmussen (Living Books)
513
514One of the few 4th graders in the show, she and her family are either poodles or rats ([[FlipFlopOfGod official sources disagree]]).
515----
516* AlphaBitch: Prunella was like this in the earlier seasons, especially in the second episode of the first season when she tried to scare Arthur and his friends what Mr. Ratburn was like and threatened Athur about quitting the spelling bee. She mellows out a bit once ''Henry Skreever'' and Marina Datillo are introduced to the show in S6's "Prunella's Special Edition".
517* BlackBeadEyes: She has dots for eyes, but [[FreezeFrameBonus for a moment]] in "Prunella's Special Edition", they're normal.
518* BigNo:
519** She screams it in the opening of S6's "Prunella's Special Edition", when she discovers that her new book is printed in Braille, and she can't read it.
520** Prunella screams it in "Prunella Packs It In", when she dreams that she's in Clown College.
521** She screams in "Prunella in the Haunted Locker", when she dreams she was attacked by her locker.
522* DependingOnTheWriter: She's either a PhonyPsychic (usually in Brain-focused episodes) or an actual FortuneTeller whose predictions have come true (usually in Prunella-focused or literary inspired episodes).
523* DubNameChange: Brunhilde in the German dub.
524* EpisodeTitleCard: [[LargeHam I PREDICT THAT YOU WILL SHORTLY SEE...]] (episode title read out loud), taken from S4's "To Beat or Not to Beat".
525* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Marina. Occasionally, Muffy would fill this role.
526* InconsistentColoring: Her hair is canonically red but up until Season 16 it shifted between brown and red.
527* NoodlePeople: She's noticeably lanky compared to other characters.
528* NotAMorningPerson: In “The Tardy Tumbler”, Prunella is surprised to hear that there is a 6:00 in the morning after Marina tells her she’ll have to get up early to attend their gymnastics class.
529%%* PhonyPsychic: Just like her big sister. Oddly, she still believes her sister even though she's using the same tricks.
530* SixthRanger: She's a grade higher than most of the rest of the cast, so she only hangs out with them on occasion.
531* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: She goes through one in S4's "Prunella Gets it Twice". Lampshaded when the "Ghost of Presents Past" interweaves Tiny Tim into the story.
532[[/folder]]
533
534[[folder:Marina Datillo]]
535[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3ed017adabe9571a02701a29cb743ea1.png]]
536-->'''Voiced by:''' Helena Evangeliou
537
538Prunella's friend, also a fourth-grader, who presumably goes to school at Mighty Mountain. Prunella met her in "Prunella's Special Edition" and she's been a recurring character ever since.
539----
540* AcademicAthlete: Marina is a bookworm who's also great at gymnastics and yoga. In a brief scene, she's shown playing soccer at school.
541* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Averted. Marina is blind, but does not like people to make a big deal of it. She's also received a massive amount of CharacterDevelopment that's unrelated to her disability, which is somewhat unusual for a kids' show.
542* SatelliteCharacter: She is defined entirely by her relationship with Prunella.
543[[/folder]]
544
545[[folder:Jenna Morgan]]
546[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jennafdfshfk_9792.jpg]]
547-->'''Voiced by:''' Brigid Tierney
548
549Another former background character in Arthur's class, she is a cat, entirely different from Sue Ellen though. Despite being the shortest in her class, she's also great at sports that Francine isn't the best at.
550----
551* TheAce: It is mentioned that Jenna is also good at sports, mostly at the ones Francine is not good at.
552* AscendedExtra: Like George, it was quite a while before she became a character with a personality. Despite having only one episode with her as the main focus in the show's 15 seasons (S7's "Jenna's Bedtime Blues"), she is maintained as a prominent secondary character.
553* TheChewToy: She becomes this in "The Good Sport" when Francine continually badgers her for winning Athlete of the Year, and is fully aware that everyone thinks Francine should've gotten it. The two eventually make up though.
554* DarkHorseVictory: Everybody was floored when she was awarded the Athlete of the Year Award over Francine.
555* EmbarrassingDampSheets: In "Jenna's Bedtime Blues", she is revealed to have a bed-wetting problem.
556* InformedAbility: In S6's "The Good Sport" we're told that Jenna excels in a number of sports that it's hard to imagine her doing. This seems like a one-off joke at first, but later episodes actually show her playing those sports.
557* PlotAllergy: Jenna is a cat who's lactose intolerant.
558* MauveShirt: She has gotten a few spotlight episodes, but much less than the rest of the cast, and still generally remains underdeveloped. She is eventually depicted as Maria's confidant in "Maria Speaks."
559* OutOfFocus: Jenna has only spoken a few times since season 9.
560* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Jenna's reluctance to put on her pull-ups as shown in her only focus episode, S7's "Jenna's Bedtime Blues".
561[[/folder]]
562
563[[folder:The Tough Customers]]
564->''"We're not bullies. We're kids who have a hard time expressing our emotions in a constructive manner." - Rattles''
565
566The Tough Customers are a gang of bullies at Lakewood Elementary School, founded by Binky, who is the one member who is not in the fourth grade. In "Arthur's Big Hit", Binky decides to get rid of the club, but in later episodes the club is still there. They hang out on the jungle gym (aka: The Tower of Pain), and also have an entire lunch table reserved for themselves. In early episodes, especially Season One and Two, they were portrayed as malevolent malcontents, but this lessened as time went on. Initially, there were many members, including Binky, Rattles, Molly, but the core three are the only of the original club to remain: none of the others are seen very frequently after Season Four. Later, Molly, Rattles, and Binky are joined by Slink, who was previously just a one-shot character from an earlier episode. From then onward, those four are consistently portrayed as the entirety of the group.
567----
568* AerithAndBob: Molly, ''Rattles'', and '''''Slink'''''?
569* AffectionateNickname: It's subtle, but Rattles often refers to Molly by "Moll" rather than her actual name. Both of them refer to Binky as "Binks" on several occasions.
570* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Due to their extreme displays of HypocriticalHumor. In one episode, Arthur proclaims that he's a thief to gain acceptance to their group, and they openly welcome him and congratulate him on his "art". Then when it's revealed he wasn't honest, Binky and Rattles berate him for lying.
571* CharacterTics: Frequently seen with their rollerblades and skateboards.
572* CharacterDevelopment: They're introduced as a GangOfBullies of sorts, but they slowly reveal their nicer and more sensitive sides during the series. As of "The Last Tough Customer", they decide to abandon their bullying ways altogether.
573* CharacterizationMarchesOn: They go from being obvious bullies to being kids who can sometimes be thoughtless and mean. They also channel their energy more constructively, going from malicious bullying to consumer advocacy.
574* DependingOnTheWriter: Whether they're actually legitimately malicious or just rougher and tougher than most of the other students.
575* DiminishingVillainThreat: In early seasons, they're truly nasty and cruel to other students. By Season Eight, the worst they do is claim the jungle gym for themselves and bar everyone else from playing there, and they occasionally throw water balloons at other students. [[spoiler:By S16's "The Last Tough Customer", they decide to abandon their tough act altogether.]]
576%% * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Binky and Rattles play it straight, with Binky's taking any insult to his mother really seriously.
577* EveryoneHasStandards: When they realized they might have unintentionally hurt Pal in "Arthur Cleans Up", they look notably dismayed and upset.
578* GangOfBullies: As close as they could get on ''Arthur'', anyway.
579* GoKartingWithBowser: Binky hangs out with Arthur and his friends on a regular basis, and Molly and Rattles can be seen doing the same in "Don't Ask Muffy" and "Bugged".
580* HiddenDepths: All of the Tough Customers have this, especially Rattles, Molly, and Binky.
581* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: As quoted by Rattles above, all of the Tough Customers are deep down, very nice people with personal hobbies they enjoy, and even help out Arthur and his friends on multiple occasions (especially Binky, who hangs out with them as well as D.W. regularly). They just don't know how to express themselves in a more socially acceptable manner other than acting tough. [[spoiler:By S16's "The Last Tough Customer", they avert it by dropping their bullying ways and shape up.]]
582* LocalHangout: The jungle gym, which they call the "Tower of Pain". Oddly enough, they can be frequently found at the library, as seen in "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary" and "Arthur Makes Waves". They also make the Sugar Bowl their hangout in S20's "Buster's Second Chance" in an alternate timeline where Buster didn't befriend Arthur.
583* MeaningfulName: On one hand, Rattles and Binky are named after children/infant toys and objects, suggesting they really aren't as tough as they appear. On the other hand, we have Molly, whose name means "bitter" (derived from the name Mary), and Slink, a term to describe a quiet, stealthy walk.
584%% MetalHead: Molly, Rattles, Slink, and maybe Binky.
585* NoNameGiven: A few of the Tough Customer "extras" have names, like the male cat named Kiefer, the female cat named Fletcher, and the male bear named Billy, but others remain unnamed such as a male dog, a male rabbit, and a female aardvark.
586* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: What Rattles claims he and his friends are in S14's "D.W., Queen of the Comeback", as quoted above.
587* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Binky, Rattles, and Slink. One episode explained how Rattles got his nickname, but we haven't heard how Slink got his.
588* PetTheDog: In S8's "D.W., Dancing Queen", both Molly and Rattles step up to help D.W. with her ballet performance when Binky twists his ankle and is unable to dance onstage with her.
589* RealMenWearPink: Especially Binky and, later, Rattles, but all of them dance ballet at some point. Binky, Slink, Molly, and Rattles all take part in a barbershop routine for the Summer Serenade in "D.W. Beats All".
590* SoapboxSadie: Downplayed. They go from bullying their schoolmates to picketing businesses to protest problems like extortion and unhealthy fast food. They usually don't overshoot it, though.
591%% SchoolBullyingIsHarmless: [[PlayingWithATrope Sometimes.]]
592* {{Tomboy}}: All of the girls.
593* TrueCompanions: In spite of their faults, they stick by one another and help each other out, as seen in Seasons Eight and Nine. For example, in S8's "Binky Goes Nuts", when it was discovered that Binky was allergic to peanuts, Molly acted as bodyguard and prevented students with said food from sitting near him in order to preserve his health. They also helped Rattles get along with his new twin step-siblings, even giving him a slang dictionary so he can understand his step-sister's lingo better.
594* VillainsOutShopping: Rather hilariously, Molly and Rattles can be seen at the front of the crowd at the meeting for concerned citizens in "The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club".
595* YoungerThanTheyLook: They can all pass for high or middle schoolers due to their punk/grunge-like outfits, even though they're about as young as Arthur and his friends. Molly in particular is shown to have ''breasts'' when she wears a swimsuit in "Arthur Makes Waves".
596------
597
598! Molly [=MacDonald=]
599[[quoteright:244:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ba09136c448f949fba548ff0d03fdce1.png]]
600--> '''Voiced by:''' Maggie Castle
601
602A fourth-grade rabbit and one of the Tough Customers. She has a younger brother named James, who is friends with D.W.
603----
604* ActionGirl: The only named female Tough Customer to remain and the only main female skateboarder.
605* AloofBigSister: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. One might think she would be this, but she's actually very close to her brother, James.
606* AlliterativeName: Molly [=MacDonald=].
607* AmbiguouslyRelated: In "[[Recap/ArthurS2E20HowTheCookieCrumblesSueEllensLittleSister Sue Ellen's Little Sister]]", her brother James was with another boy rabbit. But it's never stated if he is related to the two or not (not helping that this was early in the show's run before certain things were setttled with the canon).
608* AscendedExtra: She started off as a generic bully girl in the Tough Customers, but later episodes gave her a MoralityPet in the form of her younger brother, a hidden creative side, a more relaxed personality (in comparison), and an overall more sympathetic presentation.
609* TheAtoner: Becomes this in S16's "The Last Tough Customer" [[spoiler:when she realizes that James is adopting her bullying ways, and decides to try turning a new leaf]].
610%% Doesn't explain what the reaction is. * BerserkButton: If anyone tries to take the "Tower of Pain" from her, as seen in "The Law of the Jungle Gym".
611* CoolBoard: Her skateboard is black and wrapped with barbed wire around the middle.
612* CoolBigSis: When James needs help, he goes to Molly.
613* ADayInTheLimelight: Season 16's "The Last Tough Customer" and Season 21's "Take A Hike, Molly!" feature her prominently.
614* DefrostingIceQueen: Over the course of the series, though not especially evident. Most apparent in "Arthur Makes Waves".
615* DrillSergeantNasty: When coaching her younger brother for his swim meet in "D.W. Swims with the Fishes."
616* DubNameChange: Nelie in the French dub.
617* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She's very close to her little brother James, despite her tough demeanor. [[spoiler:When James TookALevelInJerkass just by watching her, Molly has a HeelRealization and resolves to reform herself for his sake.]]
618* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: [[spoiler:During her StartOfDarkness, she changes her bun to her current tomboyish bob after she is bullied]].
619* EyesOutOfSight: Her eyes have only been seen very briefly in a few episodes, such as "Agent of Change" and "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper". We find out that, in "The Last Tough Customer", [[spoiler: she's had that hairstyle since she was in kindergarten, after a kid called her muffin head when she wore it in a topknot bun]]
620* FieryRedhead: Her hair's more a reddish-brown, but she acts like this on occasion, often when she gets lines.
621* ForbiddenFriendship: With Arthur, prominently in "Arthur Makes Waves", though they keep it a secret due to their respective friends' disapproval. [[AesopAmnesia The writers seem to have forgotten about it, though]].
622* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:She was bullied a lot when she was younger, her classmates tormenting her by calling her "[[MaliciousMisnaming Muffin Head]]" and destroying her sandcastles. The experience hardened her heart and made her act tough, and in time she became a bully herself]].
623* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: A rare example where a character feels this way about their ''own'' FreudianExcuse. [[spoiler:After her HeelFaceTurn in "The Last Tough Customer", she admits to her former victims in her apology letter that having been bullied in preschool was no excuse to become a bully herself]].
624---> '''Molly:''' ''(in her letter)'' It's a long story on why I started bullying people. I think because it happen to me, but that's no excuse. I've been mean and I hurt some of you and I'm really really sorry. So, I'm gonna try to be better. I don't just want to be respected. I want to be liked too and I know I have to earn that. Anyway, your friend, Molly.
625* HeelRealization: "The Last Tough Customer" is this for her after [[spoiler:seeing James picking up her bully habits]].
626---> '''Molly:''' James, listen to me. It's not okay to act that way. I know I've done it, but it's wrong. I don't want you to be a bully.
627---> '''James:''' Well, are you gonna say you're sorry to the kids you bullied?
628---> '''Molly:''' Yes...yes I am.
629* HiddenDepths: She cares a great amount for her brother and Mom, is interested by storytelling and animation techniques, and is concerned by the lack of independent female characters in media.
630* ImpliedDeathThreat: We don't hear what she said to Muffy in "The Law of the Jungle Gym", but even the other Tough Customers thought she went too far.
631* ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler:Her hair used to be longer and put up in a bun right on top of her head when she was in preschool. But after she was bullied, she let her hair loose and transformed into her current bob in an attempt to adopt a tougher image.]]
632%%* InconsistentSpelling: It's '''[=MacDonald=]''', not [="McDonald"=].
633* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Once took great pride in her bullying ways, but deep down is a well-meaning and somewhat insecure girl.
634* JustFriends: With all of the male Tough Customers, as well as Arthur.
635* KickTheDog: In S16's "The Last Tough Customer", she cruelly pokes fun at George's [[spoiler:dyslexia]], causing the boy to run off and cry. [[EveryoneHasStandards Even Binky, who regularly picks on George, thought that wasn't okay]].
636* LeanAndMean: Perhaps it's just because she's older and taller, but she's noticeably thinner than the main cast. This is especially apparent when she's standing next to the male Tough Customers, who are stockier and more muscular than she is.
637* TheLancer: She is this to Binky in the Tough Customers. As the series has gone on however, she seems to be the unofficial leader of the group in Binky's place.
638* MaliciousMisnaming: [[spoiler:"Muffin Head", due to how her bun was put right on top of her head when she was a preschooler]].
639* MeaningfulName: Her first name (derived from the name Mary) means "bitter", which certainly suits her malicious personality in the early seasons. The derivation of her surname is from the Gaelic "Mac Dhomhnuill", translating as "The son of Donald". It is said that the personal name "Donald" translates as "world-rule". Molly is a bully who rules the playground. She also descends from UsefulNotes/{{Scot|land}}tish royalty.
640* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy:
641** Compare her distinct lack of traditionally female interests and her rough-and-tough appearance to [[RealMenWearPink Binky's activities]].
642** She has this dynamic with her younger brother James, as well. Molly is a tough and confrontational {{tomboy}} while James is a quiet, unassuming ShrinkingViolet.
643* OddNameOut: She has a normal name compared to Rattles, Binky, and Slink.
644* OneOfTheBoys: Her demeanor and activities barely portray a hint of femininity.
645** At one point, the male Tough Customers imagined her in a dress and were weirded out by the very idea.
646** She took part in a barbershop quartet with Binky, Slink, and Rattles. All four wore traditional male barbershop costumes.
647** In an ImagineSpot of 50's society, Arthur and his friends are shown wearing gendered clothing, letterman sweaters for the boys, poodle skirts for the girls, while the Tough Customers are depicted as greasers. Molly is wearing a dark leather jacket and jeans right alongside her male friends.
648* PetTheDog:
649** In "Law of the Jungle Gym", she can be seen several times being kind to a stray cat.
650** She's very kind to her brother, James, and is much more patient with him than Arthur is with D.W.
651** When other students come to her for advice, she tells them her best ideas and takes time to talk with them even though she would rather be skateboarding.
652** "The Last Tough Customer" is one giant moment for her [[spoiler:combined with TheAtoner, HeelRealization, and HeelFaceTurn]].
653* PintSizedPowerhouse: A subtler example than most, but when she is arm-wrestling with Binky, she gives as good as she gets even though he's taller, heavier, and stronger than her.
654* PlatonicLifePartners: As of Seasons Eight and Nine, Molly and Rattles are almost never seen apart, even for mundane activities such as walking the dog, or special occasions such as dancing ballet together.
655* RoyalBlood: It is revealed in "[[Recap/ArthurS15E3BustersSecretAdmirerTheLastKingOfLambland The Last King of Lambland]]" that she and her family are descendants of UsefulNotes/{{Scot|land}}tish royalty.
656* ShipTease: With Arthur in "Arthur Makes Waves", where Arthur's peers are led to believe he's in love with her when they see them spending time together.
657* SleevesAreForWimps: A rare female example. Molly is almost always seen wearing a denim jacket as a shirt with ragged edges from ripping off the sleeves.
658* SiblingYinYang: Tough, confrontational Molly and her quiet, unassuming younger brother James.
659* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler:Turns out she was a victim of bullying herself. Seeing James start to repeat the pattern prompts her HeelRealization]].
660* TheStoic: As a result of her bangs covering her eyes, it's difficult to gauge her emotion when she isn't speaking.
661* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Mostly absent. The only physical indication of her gender is her bob, but that helps little when she's standing beside fellow Tough Customer Slink, who is male and has hair that's longer than hers.
662* {{Tomboy}}: Out of all the girls on the show, Molly is probably the quintessential example. Binky had to convince her to dance ballet by telling her [[BlatantLies it was a new martial arts style]]. Undoubtedly the most aggressive female character on the show, even after her CharacterDevelopment.
663* TheUnapologetic: Her main flaw in "Take a Hike, Molly"; she has a hard time saying sorry, much to the dismay of the other Tough Customers. She gets over this by the end of the episode.
664* UsedToBeASweetKid: [[spoiler:She was a sweet little girl until she became a bullying victim in preschool. After that, she [[TookALevelInJerkass became a Tough Customer]].]]
665* ViolentGlaswegian: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]]. She is UsefulNotes/{{Scot|land}}tish-[[UsefulNotes/UnitedStates American]] and as a member of the [[GangOfBullies Tough Customers]], she is not above occasionally threatening other kids at her school with violence. But she does have a nicer side as well, and [[spoiler:has a full-on HeelFaceTurn in season 16]], though she still remains one of the most aggressive characters in the show afterward.
666* WomenAreWiser: From Season Eight onwards, most episodes featuring the Tough Customers portray her as the most level-headed and realistically-minded of the group.
667----
668
669!"Rattles" Ciccone
670[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bf1562e08af556204d749fc3b44f9da4.jpg]]
671--> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/ScottBeaudin (season 14-25)
672
673A fourth grader who seems to alternate between being a cat, a dog, and a bear.[[note]]Since the nose is basically the same for all three, the ear shape is how to tell the difference. Rattles only took off his hat 4 times in 18 seasons, leaving plenty of time for the animators to forget minor details.[[/note]] Another one of the Tough Customers.
674----
675* BewareOfViciousDog: He owns a mean, snarling dog, aptly named "Crusher." Said dog [[TookALevelInKindness later becomes nicer]] due to the influence of Grandma Thora's dog Killer, and Francine's cat Nemo.
676* BookDumb: He has an extensive vocabulary, but has trouble spelling, as seen in "The Play's The Thing".
677* CallingMeALogarithm: Inverted. He uses words he doesn't know to insult people, such as "bibliophile" and "philanthropist".
678* CatsAreMean: As stated above, he alternates between being a cat, dog and/or bear, though he's still not very nice either way.
679* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: Played straight with him most of the time, but he is occasionally shown to have a certain degree of respect for those in charge.
680--> '''Rattles''': [[ItMakesSenseInContext (Protesting the idea that Mr. Ratburn would wear socks with holes in them)]] '''Mr. Ratburn wouldn't wear no sock full of holes! He's a very upstanding kind of guy.'''
681--> '''Rattles''': (Upset when someone puts trash in the recycling bin) Yo! It's paper only! Can't you read?!
682* CurbStompBattle: He won his chess match against Brain in S16's "Brain's Chess Mess" pretty quickly.
683* DarkIsEvil: A bully and one of the only two kids to have a recurring black article of clothing (in his case, a black jacket he constantly wears). However, it's also subverted in later seasons, where he reveals himself to be a decent guy underneath his tough image, with hobbies of his own.
684* ADayInTheLimelight: S19's "Whip, Mix, Blend.", where he deals with his mother's divorce and remarriage, and learning how to live with his twin step-siblings.
685* DubNameChange: Kalle in the German dub.
686* HellBentForLeather: His dark jacket resembles one of these.
687* HiddenDepths: He's a very skilled chess player, enough to teach Brain's Chess Club how to play better, and likes [[RealMenWearPink knitting and sewing]]. His vocabulary also includes words that are above his school grade. In S16's "Brain's Chess Mess", he declines Brain's offer to do his homework in return for joining the Chess Club, on the reason it'll "deprive [Rattles] of his education."
688* HypocriticalHumor: Yells at a guy for tossing regular trash into a paper-only recycling bin, minutes before intimidating some random children into giving their ice cream to him and Molly.
689* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Probably the most antagonistic of the Tough Customers, but despite his tough, bullying ways, he's still an okay guy deep down and becomes nicer in later seasons.
690* {{Joisey}}: His voice in later seasons has shades of this.
691* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: If his name refers to "Rattles" as in "Rattlesnake", he fits this. If it's the ''other'' kind of rattle, then not at all. It is revealed in "Take a Hike, Molly" that "Rattles" is a nickname that is inspired by snakes, but it's actually because [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes he's afraid of them]].
692* NeverBareheaded: He is almost never seen without his red baseball cap, always worn backwards.
693* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: He doesn't see himself as a bully, and took offense at being called one by D.W. in S14's "D.W., Queen of the Comeback".
694* PatheticallyWeak: In "The Last Tough Customer", he is shown to be unable to break apart a stick even after working his muscles. A squirrel chews through the same stick in half a second.
695* PetTheDog:
696** As mentioned in the Tough Customers' folder, he and Molly help D.W. with her school ballet project after Binky twists his ankle.
697** He also tries to help D.W. come up with good comebacks against the [[BrattyHalfPint Tibble twins]] in S14's "D.W., Queen of the Comeback", even though he personally thinks the kids' vendetta is ridiculous and initially suggests to D.W. that she ignore the Tibbles.
698* PlatonicLifePartners: As of Seasons 8 and 9, Molly and Rattles are almost never seen apart, even when doing mundane activities such as walking the dog, or special occasions, such as dancing ballet together.
699* PlayingSick: [[spoiler:He fakes a stomachache on the day of a chess tournament in S16's "Brain's Chess Mess", as part of a gambit to get Brain to play against a particularly hard opponent without his help, because he had faith Brain can do it. It works.]]
700* PlotAllergy: Episodes in seasons 14 and 16 indicate that he's lactose intolerant.
701* RealMenWearPink: His interests include sewing and knitting.
702* RecurringExtra: He can often be seen in the background of episodes prominently featuring other characters, more so than any of the other Tough Customers.
703* SophisticatedAsHell: He often makes quite eloquent and mature remarks, but they end up sounding a bit ridiculous due to his exaggerated {{Joisey}} accent that makes his voice seem a bit thuggish, and his lack of knowledge in regards to what the words actually mean.
704* StockForeignName: His surname is "Ciccone", suggesting he is of Italian descent.
705* ThatLiarLies: In S1's "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper". After he learns that Arthur lied about being able to gleep, he responds with a tirade that ends with "lying lie face".
706* TookALevelInKindness: Like Binky before him, he started off as a school bully in early seasons, then got hit with CharacterDevelopment and HiddenDepths the longer the show ran. Prominent examples include helping D.W. with her ballet performance ("D.W., Dancing Queen") and coming up with good insults for her to use against the Tibble twins ("D.W., Queen of the Comeback"), befriending and teaching Brain and his friends how to play chess ("Brain's Chess Mess"), and putting up with Carl's autism without complaint ("Carl's Concerto").
707* UngratefulBastard: In S8's "Thanks a Lot, Binky", Rattles gets mad at Binky for "squealing" on him for trying to pull off a dangerous rollerblading stunt with his friends, even though said stunt would've broken every bone in his body and put him in the hospital for a very long time.
708* WhatTheHellHero: He harshly calls out Arthur for lying to him and his friends in S1's "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper", making it a point to sit on Arthur and bounce a ball on Arthur's head as he did so.
709* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Seriously, ''Rattles''? It's actually an EmbarrassingNickname that just stuck.
710* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: "Take a Hike, Molly" reveals that he's nicknamed "Rattles" due to actually being afraid of snakes. When he was little, he would scream "Ah! It's a rattler" whenever he thought he saw a snake and the nickname just stuck.
711----
712
713!Slink
714[[quoteright:228:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/edb8660b3a21a021394b7c4d1d2352c6.png]]
715--> '''Voiced by:''' Michael Yarmush
716
717A fourth grade rabbit with a tanner complexion than Molly, and another Tough Customer.
718----
719* AscendedExtra: Initially a single-episode bully character from "Buster and the Daredevils", but is a recurring member of the Tough Customers by Season Six.
720* ADayInTheLimelight: Season twenty one's "Slink's Special Talent."
721* DarkIsEvil: A bully and one of the only two kids to have a recurring black article of clothing (in his case, a black shirt with a red lightning bolt on the front).
722* TheDitz: The least intelligent of the Tough Customers.
723* DubNameChange: Sigi in the German dub.
724* EyesOutOfSight: Due to his hair. His bangs are even longer than Molly's, cover roughly half his face, and his eyes have only been seen once.
725* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Toby, at least until their efforts to humiliate Buster failed, and now they don't even attend the same school.
726* MeaningfulName: His moniker suggests that he may not be of the best repute. He isn't.
727* OutOfFocus: Out of the four, Slink is the only one not to have a major episode that focus on him aside from his debut story.
728* PhoneaholicTeenager: He's not a teenager, but he does have a particular fondness for his phone, especially filming things with it.
729* RingRingCrunch: "Slink's Special Talent" sees the lackadaisical Slink respond to his alarm clock by hitting the snooze button, putting it in a drawer, and finally throwing it offscreen.
730* SeriesContinuityError: When Slink was first introduced, he attended Mighty Mountain. He later appears at Lakewood Elementary with no explanation offered.
731* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: His name really takes the cake for this.
732* WildHair: The only elementary school boy to have longer hair.
733[[/folder]]
734
735[[folder:Alberto Molina]]
736[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alberto_molinajpg.jpg]]
737--> '''Voiced by:''' Johnny Griffin (season 14), Benjamin Israel (season 14), Creator/DanielDeSanto (season 17-25)
738
739A 13-year-old cat who is a next-door neighbor of Arthur's. His family originally came from Ecuador. He practices Kendo in his spare time and is a fan of ''El Conejo Bionico'', the Spanish version of ''Bionic Bunny''.
740----
741* BigBrotherInstinct: He sounded angry with the Tibble twins for lying to Vicita in "To Tibble the Truth".
742* BigBrotherMentor: As he's a bit older than most of the other kids, he occasionally fills this role.
743* KendoTeamCaptain: Well, it's unknown if he's the captain of a team, but it's rare to see this sport in a Western cartoon.
744[[/folder]]
745
746[[folder:Lydia Fox]]
747[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lydia_2.png]]
748-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/BarbaraMamabolo
749
750An eponymous fox and friend of the third/fourth-grade cast who was introduced in later seasons. She was born without the use of her legs, so she uses a wheelchair.
751----
752* AcademicAthlete: We first encounter Lydia as a new friend of Brain; they met because an injury relegated him to a wheelchair during basketball season. Through this, we find out Lydia is a great basketball player, but is also highly intelligent and plays a mean game of chess. Additionally, she's great at twirling batons.
753* HandicappedBadass: She may be in a wheelchair, but she's good at basketball.
754* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Averted. She uses a wheelchair, but it's not her only characteristic, and she's quite opposed to being given sympathy based on the wheelchair alone.
755* PrincessPhase: Played with. At first she despised princesses as there's never been a popular princess that resembled her, but after finding a book about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_de_Mendoza,_Princess_of_Eboli Ana de Mendoza]], she got D.W. to dress up as her. She also dresses up as a princess similar to [[Franchise/{{StarWars}} Princess Leia]] and decks her wheelchair in Christmas lights to resemble a spaceship.
756* {{Retcon}}: She originated as the winning character of a kids' contest, where her submitted name was Lydia Fox. When the official episode was made, she was never given a last name in dialogue. However, she got the full name Lydia Gordon[[note]]The last name of the kid who won the contest[[/note]] in the episode's credits. When she returned a few years later, the name Lydia Fox was canonized through in-episode dialogue.
757* SpeciesSurname: She's a fox with the last name "Fox".
758* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Plays the tomboy to Muffy's girly girl in "Little Miss Meanie" from Season 18.
759[[/folder]]
760
761[[folder:Carl Gould]]
762[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/when_carl_met_george_75.png]]
763--> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/DwayneHill (season 13), Dylan Hoerner (seasons 14-20), Victor Gilbert (season 24-)
764
765A young male rabbit who befriends George in season thirteen, and is later introduced to George's classmates. Carl has [[UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome Asperger's Syndrome]].
766----
767* AnythingButThat: The first time that Carl sees Wally, he starts to [[GottaGetYourHeadTogether hold his head and panic]]. By the time of "Carl's Concerto," he's over it, though.
768* BlessedWithSuck: In the sense that having rabbit ears only heightens his sensitivity to auditory stimuli.
769* BrainyBrunette: Carl has brown hair and possesses a savvy knowledge in trains and spaceships.
770* ChildProdigy: Carl has a knowledge beyond summary when it comes to spaceships, trains, and animal habitats.
771** In "Buster Spaces Out", Carl is able to easily serve as a risk assessor for Buster's model rocket launch, filling in for an indisposed Alan.
772** Once Carl begins citing information on trains, it can be hard to get him to stop, as George once pointed out.
773** He knows about the history of lions' country residence.
774** He can also play 18 different songs on the accordion.
775* HeterosexualLifePartners: With George. He is Carl's closest friend, hence he's the schoolmate Carl spends the most time on-screen alone with. The opening of "When Carl Met George" establishes their close friendship by showing them over at one another's house.
776* InconsistentSpelling: Closed captioning spells Carl's surname as "Gold," but Arthur Wiki spells it as "Gould" based on "Carl's Concerto".
777* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: [[spoiler: While the writers are usually very good about avoiding this trope, Carl's role in "He Said, He Said" is a Type B example. Carl is able to remember the events of a Bionic Bunny special better than Arthur, Buster, or George can.]]
778* LiteralMinded: When George asks Carl if he wants to hang out sometime, Carl asks "Hang out of what?" This prompts George to tell Carl that he's pulling his leg, to which Carl replies "No I'm not, I'm making a puzzle".
779* LongSpeechTeaTime: George gets Carl going on a monologue about trains. Since George can't get Carl to stop, it turns into the framing device for the story of how they met.
780* NoSocialSkills: Carl sometimes misses social cues, such as stating a fact about the habitat of lions when George asks for his opinion on his drawing of the said animal. He gets slightly better as the series goes on, however, and he is being taught how to handle social situations by his speech therapist.
781* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: When George shows Carl a picture he drew of a lion, he asks, "What do you think of my lion?" Carl says that lions used to live all over the world, but now live only in Africa and Asia. George has to clarify that he was asking Carl's opinion of the drawing.
782* ObsessivelyOrganized: He prefers his things to be kept in a specific order and arrangement, so he puts his building blocks in separate containers per shape. He also prefers his juice to be in a box rather than a bottle. This example is downplayed since he isn't obsessive about this order, but he is insistent on it.
783%%* PhotographicMemory: Implied in a couple of episodes.
784* PickyEater: Carl does not like certain foods touching each other, because they have different colors.
785* RailEnthusiast: Carl has books about trains, loves to put together train puzzles, and keeps a journal of train illustrations.
786* SatelliteCharacter: Played with. Carl initially meets George, and meets his other peers later. While he does try to get along with the other kids, George still acts as an intermediary for them sometimes. In a straight example, Carl's mom only ever appears to support Carl himself.
787* SensoryOverload: Carl is sensitive to intense light and sound, as well as loud noises.
788* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Carl wears glasses and has a very expansive knowledge in his topic areas of interest.
789* WiseBeyondTheirYears: He'll talk at great lengths to show how well-educated he is in his favorite topic areas. [[ChildProdigy He's already learnt a lot of stuff the average 8-year-old is still learning]].
790[[/folder]]
791
792[[folder:Ladonna Compson]]
793[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ladonna_promo_5095.png]]
794--> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/KrystalMeadows
795
796The Compsons are a family of rabbits with tan fur. They moved from Louisiana to Elwood City in the Season 16 premiere, "Based on a True Story". Ladonna is the third of four siblings. She has a penchant for oral storytelling, similar to Fern's love of poetry, or Sue Ellen's journaling hobby.
797----
798* BigEater: So much so that her father calls her a "garbage disposal with legs". The only thing she won't eat is [[StockYuck beets]].
799* BunniesForCuteness: Quite a good-looking rabbit.
800* CoolBigSis: She has her moments, particularly during "Adventures in Budylon." [[spoiler: She steps up to teach Bud how to tie shoelaces.]]
801* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Downplayed. Ladonna's tendency to tell tall tales makes her the most likely of Arthur's friends to upset everyone else, especially when she first moves into town. [[spoiler:"Ladonna's Like List" explores the concept of Ladonna's likeability.]]
802* GenkiGirl: Is quite the chatterbox and can be rather chipper at the right times. Especially when snowy season comes around, as seen in "Waiting for Snow"; Ladonna [[{{Squee}} squeeing]] in excitement becomes a RunningGag in the episode.
803* MotorMouth: Initially introduced as such, telling tall tales in the hopes of impressing her would-be friends.
804* PutOnABus: In ''A Duty Calls'', [[spoiler: she moves away from Elwood City because of her father's military service]]. We don't know if she'll be back, however.
805* StockYuck: She can't stand beets; just ''looking'' at beets upsets her stomach.
806* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Cake, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake King cake]] in particular.
807[[/folder]]
808
809[[folder:Maria Pappas]]
810[[quoteright:210:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a74b9168_7dd1_4c83_b1e2_2e4fba423e51.png]]
811-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/StaceyDePass
812
813A background character frequently seen as a member of Mr. Ratburn's class; she is a rabbit.
814----
815* ADayInTheLimelight: "Maria Speaks," her first speaking role to date.
816* AscendedExtra: One of the most recognizable background characters, it was not until ''Season 19'' that Maria was actually given either a name or an actual speaking part. While far removed from being a main character, she is never far out of view at Lakewood Elementary.
817* BunniesForCuteness: Probably a big part of why she stands out despite being in the background.
818* FriendToAllLivingThings: So much so that she is able to speak perfectly well when addressing animals.
819* HeterosexualLifePartners: In a loose sense, as Jenna seems to be the only person Maria is otherwise able to confide to under normal circumstances.
820* OutOfFocus: More so than any other character before her first lead role in Season 19.
821* ShrinkingViolet: She desperately tries to hide her stutter from the rest of her classmates.
822* SpeechImpediment: We find out that Maria suffers from a stutter; with a little help however, she is slowly overcoming it.
823* TheVoiceless: Until Season 19, she was this. So much so that Arthur can't remember ever hearing her speak.
824[[/folder]]
825
826[[folder:Alex Davidson]]
827[[quoteright:167:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ae1d5d3e_8d50_4f8a_b185_b480873f8d5a.png]]
828-->'''Voiced by:''' Mitchell Rothpan (seasons 1-3), Unknown (season 7), Matthew Rowsell (season 18-25)
829
830A background character who is often apart of Mr. Ratburn's class, he is a rabbit.
831----
832* AscendedExtra: Much like Maria, Alex was in the background of Mr. Ratburn's class with no real role. But that changed in the 2021 special when he became friends wth Arthur in the fourth grade, as Buster was in another class.
833* TheGenericGuy: Out of all the students in Mr. Ratburn's class, he has the least amount of things known about him, he doesn’t even have a major role in any of his appearances.
834* OutOfFocus: He has always been out of focus, but there are a few episodes where he speaks.
835* TheQuietOne: He doesn’t speak in many of his appearances.
836* RecurringExtra: Often seen in the background with the other kids.
837[[/folder]]
838
839[[folder:Patrick]]
840[[quoteright:239:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c0c83461_dfdb_46b4_8aac_855270c5cc8d.jpeg]]
841-->'''Voiced by:''' Unknown
842One of Prunella's classmates who is a white rabbit.
843----
844* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After season 15, he disappeared.
845* DemotedToExtra: He was far more prominent in the first two seasons, but got little to no dialogue after these seasons.
846* OneSteveLimit: He shares his name with Ratburn's husband.
847* TookALevelInKindness: In the first two episodes, he was a jerk to the other kids (minus Binky), but after these episodes, he is a lot less of a bully and is now nice.
848[[/folder]]
849
850[[folder:Cousin Cora]]
851[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cora_1jpg.jpg]]
852-->'''Voiced by:''' Unknown
853The Read siblings' obnoxious cousin, who comes to stay at their house the day before their Aunt Lucy's wedding in "D.W. Thinks Big".
854----
855* DeliberatelyBadExample: She is such a SpoiledBrat that she makes D.W. look well-behaved in comparison.
856* HateSink: She is essentially what D.W. would be if she did not have any [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold redeemable characteristics]], and exists to be so loathsome that the audience can actually root for her for once.
857* ItsAllAboutMe: When Arthur accidentally drops the wedding ring into the organ at her Aunt Lucy's wedding, she refuses to retrieve it, despite being one of the only people present small enough to fit inside the organ, just because ''her'' dress would get dirty.
858* {{Jerkass}}: She takes away D.W.'s personal belongings, makes her sleep on the floor while she sleeps on D.W.'s bed, and [[NeverMyFault blames D.W. for something that was her fault]].
859* LaserGuidedKarma: After an entire episode of belittling D.W. and accidentally causing the ring fiasco, Aunt Lucy crowns D.W. as the flower girl as her reward for having recovered the ring. Cora is aghast, but relents when Lucy quiets her.
860* OneShotCharacter: She only has a main role in "D.W. Thinks Big". She technically appears in two other episodes, but one was a fantasy sequence and the other was a background cameo.
861* SmallNameBigEgo: Just because she is the flower girl at her aunt's wedding, she considers herself to be more important than any of the other wedding participants.
862* SpoiledBrat: Attention-seeking and self-absorbed, even for a kid.
863* TrueBlueFemininity: Wears a blue dress with green lining as her casual outfit.
864* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Has absolutely no concern for the fact that Arthur is overcome with anxiety when he is serving as the ring bearer, and when she yells at him for not smiling, he panics and accidentally flings the ring into the organ. Once again, she doesn't accept any blame for an accident ''she'' caused.
865[[/folder]]

Top