Dot

**Dot** is the tritagonist of the 1998 film A Bug's Life.

## Background

Dot is the younger daughter of the Queen of the Ant Colony, making her a princess. Her older sister, Atta, is the heir to the throne. Dot is initially Flik's only friend and supporter, being the first in the film to begin taking his ideas for consideration. She is a member of the Blueberries, a group similar to a scout troop. Like her sister and mother, she has wings, but they are not fully grown in due to her age. By the end of the film, however, she is capable of flight.

### Personality

Dot idolizes Flik and hates being small, being taunted by her peers for her size and feeling a need to fly as soon as possible to prove she can do big things. She compliments Flik's ideas and helps him a number of times during the film, showing that her size doesn't account for the size of her heart and bravery. Dot fears the demented grasshopper Thumper, whom Hopper uses as a punishment. However, she eventually conquers her fear of Thumper when she smacks him on the face and has Dim scare him away.

## Film Appearances

### A Bug's Life

Dot struggles with trying to fly at the beginning of the film and is further dismayed when her mother scolds her for trying to fly before her wings have grown in. After Flik is dismissed by Atta for holding up the harvest with his inventions, Dot chases after him and tells him she likes his inventions. Flik is disappointed that he can't make a difference in the colony and Dot feels the same way, being so little. Flik lifts her spirits by showing her how a seed becomes an enormous tree eventually (although he hands her a rock) and she just needs more time to grow. When the grasshoppers arrive for the food, the ants all take refuge in the anthill. Unfortunately, Flik accidentally knocks the offering into the lake, making the grasshopper's leader, Hopper furious.

While Hopper scolds the colony, he summons his dog-like henchman, Thumper who frightens Dot. She tries to slip away but Hopper grabs her and teasingly brings her closer to Thumper, making a threat to the colony for if they fall out of line again. Flik intervenes and saves her, but backs away in fear when Hopper advances on him. When Flik is to leave Ant Island to go to the city to enlist the help of warrior bugs to help them ward off the grasshoppers, Dot wishes him good luck, positive that he will come back in one piece.

She is later seen sitting on a cloverleaf, using Flik's telescope to keep on the lookout for him, while two of her friends poke fun at her for caring for the misfit ant. She spots him returning with the newly-recruited "warrior bugs," who are actually a troupe of circus bugs recently fired by their ringmaster P.T. Flea. She is the first to rush over and welcome him back. When the circus bugs realize later on what they are really here for, they go to leave. Flik desperately tries to get them to stay, watched from afar by Dot. Curious and concerned, Dot tries to follow them across the dried-up riverbed but gets stranded in the air on a dandelion puff after trying to use her wings again. At the same time, Flik and the circus bugs have aroused a hungry bird, who spots the helpless Dot in mid-air and charges her, prompting her to let go of the dandelion puff. Dot starts free-falling, but Francis catches sight of her and flies under her to catch her, but the force of impact causes the two to fall into a gap in the riverbed. The bird pecks at the gap, but Heimlich lures the bird away and Flik uses Rosie's thread to scoop up Dot and Francis. After Flik, Dot, and the circus bugs fly to safety, the ants applaud the circus bugs for their bravery. She and the Blueberries decide to make Francis their "den mother" and have a wonderful time with him, unaware of his chagrin. Much later on, P.T. Flea arrives at the anthill looking for his troupe and blows Flik's cover. Flik and the circus bugs are banished by the Queen and Atta for their deceit. Dot tries to go after Flik, but her mother gently stops her.

Soon after, Hopper's gang usurp Ant Island. Dot gathers the Blueberries and leads them to take refuge in their hidden clubhouse. She overhears the grasshoppers' plan to squish the Queen after pillaging the island of food from inside. She decides to go and get help but bumps into Thumper, who viciously chases her to the cliffside, where she falls into the foggy abyss below. However, her wings have finally grown big enough, and she flies off to catch up with Flik and the others. When she finds them, she urges Flik and the circus bugs to come back, telling them what's happening and what she overheard. Flik refuses several times, ashamed of all the troubles he had caused for the colony. Remembering their first conversation, Dot retrieves a stone, shows it to him, and echoes his own previous words; "pretend it's a seed, okay?" His despair turning to determination, Flik thanks Dot and embraces her tenderly.

Once they return, Flik and Dot gather the Blueberries, and they all climb aboard his makeshift bird and commandeer it, with Dot giving instructions and making bird sounds. However, it is set on fire by P.T. Flea, who mistook it for a real bird, and Hopper discovers that he had been tricked. Dot is captured by him again, but Flik orders him to release her, confessing that the bird is his idea, and Hopper did release her and beats Flik. When Flik stands up and inspires the colony to fight back, Thumper confronts Dot again, but she plucks up courage, slaps him, and says, "No! Bad grasshopper, bad grasshopper! Go home!". Just then, Dim lands behind her and gives out a monstrous roar to scare away Thumper, and he and Dot high-five each other.

At the end of the film, Dot and the Blueberries are seen sobbing and grieving as their "den mother," Francis, must leave with the circus troupe. Dot then receives Atta's princess tiara when the older sister is made the new Queen making her next in line for the throne. As Flik waves goodbye to the departing circus troupe, Dot and Atta take him to a tree root for a better view.