Dot

Dot is the tritagonist in Disney/Pixar's 1998 film A Bug's Life. She is voiced by Hayden Panettiere.

Background
Dot is the younger daughter of the Queen of the Ant Colony and is a princess. Her older sister, Atta, is the heir to the throne. Dot is initially Flik's only friend and supporter. 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. She compliments Flik's ideas and helps and convinces him a number of times during the film. 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.

A Bug's Life
Dot struggles to fly at the beginning of the film, because of her small size, and is then punished by her mother for that attempt and asking what she told her about trying to fly and she says until her wings grow in. She later follows Flik after he is dismissed by Atta, commenting on how she likes his inventions, but unable to fly yet. 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. After the grasshoppers arrive to find their food gone, after being knocked into the river by Flik, Dot is captured by Hopper who plans to feed her to Thumper. 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, Dot wishes him good luck, hoping that he will come back in one piece with the warrior bugs he sets out to find. She is later seen sitting on a cloverleaf, using Flik's telescope to look for him, despite two of her friends poking fun at her. She then 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, and rushes over to welcome him back.

When Flik follows the circus bugs across the stream, Dot follows him, but becomes stranded in the air when she accidentally takes off on a dandelion puff. At the same time, Flik and the circus bugs are trying to escape a hungry bird, who wants to eat them. The bird spots the helpless Dot and charges toward her, prompting her to let go of the dandelion puff. She then starts free-falling, but Francis catches sight of her and flies over to catch her in his arms, but the force of impact causes the two to fall into a gap in the riverbed, where Francis' leg gets smashed by a rock. The bird pecks at the gap, trying to catch Dot and/or Francis. As Heimlich lures the bird away, 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 in rescuing Dot. She and the Blueberries decide to make Francis as their "den mother." When P.T. Flea arrives looking for his troupe that the flaming death act is a success and blowing Flik's cover, Flik and the circus are banished by Atta, Dot tries to reach Flik but her mother kindly but proudly stops her.

After Hopper's gang usurp Ant Island, Dot goes into hiding with the Blueberries. Upon hearing that Hopper is planning to squish her mother after enough food has been collected, she decides to go out to get help. Unfortunately, she accidentally bumps into Thumper, who viciously chase her off until she falls from the cliff. Before she can know it, her wings finally sprout out and she becomes able to fly. She then flies through the air until she catches up with Flik and the circus bugs, and tries to convince the former to go back to Ant Island, telling him that Hopper is going to kill her mother if he doesn't do something. However, he does not want to go back, ashamed of all the troubles he has caused for the colony. She then retrieves a stone and shows it to him, reciting the exact words he has told her at the beginning of the film, "Pretend this is a seed," gradually turning his depression into determination.

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, accidentally aiding Hopper in the process, and Hopper discovers that he has been tricked. Dot is captured by him again, but Flik orders him to release her, confessing to him that the bird is his idea. When the ants rebel against the grasshoppers, Thumper confronts Dot again, but she plucks up courage, slaps him and says, "No! Bad grasshopper, bad grasshopper! Go home!" giving an assumption that she has overcome her fear of him. 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 crying as their "den mother," Francis, must leave with the circus troupe. Dot receives Atta's tiara when she is made the new Queen. As Flik waves good-bye to the departing circus troupe, Dot and Atta take him to a tree root for a better view.

Disney Parks
Dot appears in Disney California Adventure as a sculpted figure in A Bug's Land and is the namesake of Dot's Park. She also appears on the back of the Bug's Land marquee with a simple "Bye" message. She also appeared as a float element on the Bug's Life float in the Pixar Play Parade.

Toy
Dot has an action figure that appeared with Atta in A Bug's Life Atta and Dot figure pack. She has a McDonald's toy that shows her sitting on a blue mushroom that winds up. She also has a stuffed animal.

Trivia

 * Andrew Stanton has said that he was the creator of Dot and that he was inspired to want a little girl in the film because he just had a newborn daughter at the time, which he said was something that John Lasseter as a father of five sons "couldn't claim to have."