Ala(i)n's Canonical Personality Traits
In no particular order and with cited examples:
Alan is very quick to take action, particularly to help others. We see this character trait of Alan's so many times it's difficult to count them all. We see it when he has a scuffle in the city with a rampaging, abandoned Gible, and wrestles her back to Sycamore's lab to be treated; we see it when he volunteers immediately to go on a journey to find mega stones when Sycamore says he needs them; we see it when he agrees immediately to join Lysandre's service when Lysandre says that he can help Alan become strong enough to protect Sycamore; we see it when Alan stops what he's doing to help Manon catch FlabĂŠbĂŠ, and when he steps in to help save Ash's Pikachu from Team Rocket. Alan also takes charge when he, Manon, Steven, and Lysandre are attacked by Mega Rayquaza, and again jumps to head off to stop Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon from fighting and destroying Rustboro Bay, and again during that same incident when Primal Groudon takes down Lizardon and Alan does not waste one single second before throwing himself out of the helicopter to go save his partner. The only time Alan doesn't take immediate action is when he's blindsided by Lysandre unleashing a genocide attempt on Lumiose, and even then, once he recovers from his emotional breakdown over how he was manipulated into assisting with mass genocide, he takes immediate action to free Ash and fight back. (And then again to run into the Megalith to rescue Hari-san, so on and so forth.) While of course Alan has his loved ones at the top of his priority list, the fact that he helped Manon and Ash without being asked / needing to when he barely knew them shows that, for Alan, jumping in to help is not reserved for those most important to him. It's something he does so quickly one could almost call it instinct.
He's affectionate and soft with those he cares about. We see this most often with Lizardon. Again, there are almost too many examples to post of Alan giving Lizardon scritches, petting him, hugging him. He does it in the beginning of the very first mega evolution special. He does it after they win the Kalos League. He's open, too, about how much he trusts and respects and cares about Lizardon, telling two members of the Elite Four (Siebold and Malva) that "the bond between [us] will overcome reason" and that he doesn't want to just get stronger, he wants to get stronger together with Lizardon, because he believes in Lizardon. But the affection isn't just for Lizardon. He also pats Manon's head when he thanks her, and it only takes him a moment to hug her back when she hugs him. He confides in both Sycamore and Ash, and is fine with physical contact from them as well, be it through hands on the shoulder or handshakes. He also pets Hari-san, Sycamore's Garchomp, and the other pokĂŠmon in the lab. Alan is reserved, generally, but he isn't afraid to be soft with those that he cares about. (Again, especially Lizardon, but not only.)
He's brave to the point of being, at times, reckless. This is something Steven Stone calls him out on in the third mega evolution special. Going along with how Alan jumps into action, Alan is also not afraid to risk his life, very literally, particularly to protect those he cares about. When he jumped out of the helicopter to rescue Lizardon, he got attacked by the primal legendaries himself (Primal Groudon threw a whole Primal Kyogre at him), and he was knocked unconscious. There's a good chance he would have died had Manon and Steven (via Mega Metagross) hadn't intervened. Likewise, he nearly got speared by a giant root / thorn from the Megalith when rescuing Hari-san, and would have had he not been able to back handspring out of the way. He thought nothing of it. His self-preservation instincts are low, because it seems he put all of his points into the bravery stat instead.
He's a very quick thinker. He doesn't take action with no thought, however. Alan is shown to be exceptionally quick on his feet, both in battle and outside of it. Again, he was able to take point and lead the others when Mega Rayquaza attacked, taking point before either Steven (a Champion) or Lysandre (genocidal tech CEO) could. He's also able to pick out exact angles through smoke in battle, as shown when he directed Lizardon to attack Trevor's Charizard in their League match. He's a swift strategist, despite his reckless behavior.
If pokĂŠmon battling is sport, he's a jock. Alan is a nerd, absolutely, with how much he loves research (he was Sycamore's assistant before his travels), but he's also a jock in that he legitimately loves training and battling alongside Lizardon. Part of why he bonds with Ash so quickly is not only because Ash is a capable opponent, but also because they both love battling and pushing their limits. It's a shared, common hobby. Alan carries a lot of emotional baggage during his time on the show, but his love for battling is not part of it.
He's prone to taking responsibility for things he shouldn't. Alan is, at oldest, fifteen. Yet he considers it HIS job to take care of SYCAMORE, a grown adult (who is implied to be a father-figure to him). He also blames himself wholly for what happened to Hari-san, and even though even he can admit that he was deceived and manipulated by Lysandre (again, a grown man), he still considers his involvement in what happened to be "a perhaps irredeemable mistake." When it comes to his loved ones, Alan takes a "you've never done anything wrong ever in your life, I know this and I love you" approach, but when it comes to himself, he takes a "I have done everything wrong forever in my life, I know this and I hate myself" approach. The "perhaps irredeemable mistake" is a direct quote, by the by, from when he confides with Ash in the garden post-crisis.
He wants the best for those he loves. Obviously, he's very protective over his loved ones, and considers his strength to be wholly for their benefit. But we also see this in a more subtle, silly way: in the first special, we see him and Lizardon eating snacks from the same bag. Much humor has been had over him eating pokĂŠmon food for good reason. But we can also look at it this way: the snacks he buys Lizardon are so high-quality that they are both safe and tasty for human consumption. Nothing but the best for his partner pokĂŠmon. If Alan can't eat it himself, then it's simply not good enough for Lizardon.
When he is upset, he tends to shut down. We see this both in mild annoyance and in bigger emotional issues. For instance, Steven spends much of his time around Alan ribbing him, because he seems to think it's funny to tease Alan. Alan, in turn, responds by just icing Steven out. (Which is what Steven thinks is so funny.) And when he first learns what Lysandre has done (and what he in turn has helped with), he again shuts down completely, not saying or responding to anything until he can get some answers. It is only when pushed to absolute limits that he snaps, between yelling at Manon when pushed in the fourth mega evolution special*, and then his complete screaming, self-harming breakdown when he realized what he was complicit in. Outside of these extreme circumstances, Alan is not one to lash out when annoyed or upset. (*By this I mean she was not taking his "no" for an answer. I'm not saying that yelling at her was "right," but I am saying there is a reason he did it and the reason is not just "he's an asshole who doesn't care about her feelings" because that is demonstrably not the case. If it was, he would have yelled first, not after she talked over him multiple times and refused to accept him ending their traveling together.)
He can border on shy / socially awkward. He keeps to himself when in large crowds, not going out of his way to socialize with anyone, as seen at the League. And while he was under severe emotional distress then (he was in such poor mental health during the League he didn't recognize what happiness / excitement felt like, telling Lizardon that he was surprised by such feelings the night before their battle with Ash), even after the League crisis he still keeps close to his loved ones and doesn't want to really participate in the celebration until Manon literally drags him off to dance, during which he looks somewhat uncomfortable and awkward. (He did grin bright when Bonnie tried to drag Sycamore off, though . . . they're both awkward yet they both grin at the other being dragged into the awkwardness. Nerd family.) The one social event he seems to have complete confidence in is, again, battling; but then that's something he does alongside Lizardon, who makes him feel comfortable with things.
Because he demonstrates taking explicit comfort from close proximity to Lizardon. When Manon is pestering him with questions when they first met, he spends much of the conversation petting Lizardon, scritching Lizardon, etc instead of participating in the conversation. When Malva comes to talk to him during the League, he steps closer to Lizardon rather than being close to her, because he doesn't trust or like her. He will talk to / pay attention to Lizardon to divert his attention from people or situations he finds uncomfortable.
He has a lot of patience for kids younger than he is. When he first meets Manon, he smiles as he comments to Lizardon that she's a newbie. And while he's exasperated by her in the first couple of specials, that's about the limit of it: exasperation, even when she ribs him. (He asks, "Are you complimenting or dissing me?" but he doesn't seem to take any real offense.) Compare to how he responds to Steven's ribbing with cold annoyance. When he does lose his temper with Manon, it's because she's pushing back against what is, in his heart and mind, his attempt to keep her safe because he doesn't feel that he can protect her as he is, and therefore needs to stop bringing her with him, and he's under a lot of pressure and no sleep etc etc, it was a bad situation. But otherwise, every other example shows him being very patient with kids (and pokĂŠmon as well, see Gible).
His determination easily borders on single-minded focus. When Alan decides to do something, he does it, and he does not give up. It doesn't matter how risky it is. It doesn't matter how miserable he is. When he's met with failure after failure trying to find mega stones for Sycamore, he doesn't give up. The only diversion he allows himself when trying to gather mega evolution energy for Hari-san (really for Lysandre's genocide but he didn't know that) is to battle Ash, and even that was in part curiosity over how Bond Phenomenon related to mega evolution. He could not be dissuaded from fighting the primal legendaries, and even Sycamore knew better than to try to direct him away from continuing on the path he was set on during the league. In other words, he's extremely driven and even stubborn, sometimes (multiple times) to his own detriment.
In conclusion:
Alan: "I love you." Alan's Loved Ones: "We love you, too." Alan: "I'd die for you." Alan's Loved Ones: "That's sweet, we guess." Alan: "Please ask me to die for you." Alan's Loved Ones: "Alan, no."
