and constantly buying expensive, trendy items such as cell phones and designer clothing. Because of her upbringing, Muffy is sometimes rude and arrogant; having lived in a mansion and waited on by servants her entire life, she has no sense of what it means to be lower or middle class. She is best friends with Francine Frensky, despite the two having similar strong-willed personalities. Often, Francine will rein Muffy in when her rudeness becomes unacceptable. She is seen with buck teeth in early episodes, though this was soon changed. Alan "The Brain" Powers (voiced by Luke Reid 1996–1999; Steven Crowder 2000–2001; Alex Hood 2002–2005; Bernadette Windsor 2002–2012; Paul-Stuart Brown 2004–2007; James Buckholder 2006; Lyle O'Donohue 2008–2012; Siam Yu 2012–2014; Max Friedman Cole 2014–2018; Evan Blaylock 2019–2022) is a bear of Senegalese descent who usually wears a grey sweater. He is highly academic and well-educated in many subjects, especially science and math, and has an "A" grade average. His classmates call him "Brain" or, when referring to him in third-person, "The Brain". His family celebrates Kwanzaa and owns an ice cream parlor, where his classmates frequently visit after school and on weekends. He was held back in kindergarten for crying and being afraid of swimming, but can be seen swimming in some episodes. Shelley "Binky" Barnes (voiced by Bruce Dinsmore) is a yellow bulldog boy who usually wears an orange shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes. He is in the third grade for a second time after failing and having to retake it. He plays the clarinet, catches butterflies, loves art, and enjoys ballet. In "Binky Goes Nuts", it is revealed that he has a severe allergy to peanuts. Binky has an adopted baby sister from China named Mei-Lin. He is a member of the Tough Customers, a group of bullies, but has a soft side and is close with Arthur and his friends. In the episode "Binky Barnes, Art Expert", he tries to help Arthur and Buster. In the episode "Big Horns George", he compliments George's guitar by saying, "Woah, nice guitar! Can I see?" and after returning the guitar, says he likes the chord George plays. Despite not being good at school, in "Binky's A Game", he reads his assigned book and receives an A on the test. Sue Ellen Armstrong (voiced by Patricia Rodriguez, or "Rodrigues" in early credits, 1996–2003; Jessica Kardos, 2004–2022) is a third-grader cat girl