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Molt (also known as "Tiny" at the end) is a grasshopper and the former tertiary antagonist in the Disney/Pixar film A Bug's Life. He was voiced by Richard Kind.
Personality
Molt is Hopper's younger brother and the self-proclaimed Vice President of the grasshopper gang - although nobody believes that but him.
Molt is the loud-mouthed, fat, gullible, idiotic, laid-back but essentially good-hearted younger brother of Hopper. He got his name due to the fact that his chitin armor molts off in flakes. Hopper despises his brother because he is so annoying and is irritated by his brother's incompetence. He only puts up with him because he promised their mother on her deathbed that he wouldn't kill him. Molt often tries to be scary, but he's never taken seriously, partly because he is so submissive to the genuinely terrifying Hopper.
Molt started out as a supporting antagonist, but in the end he reformed and joined the circus.
Role in the film
When the grasshoppers first invade Ant Island, Molt interrupts Hopper's threatening speech to Atta, loudly telling everybody about the bluejay that once nearly ate Hopper. Infuriated, Hopper memorably tells Molt that if their mother hadn't made him promise never to kill Molt, he would kill him. He then vents by decking another grasshopper. Shortly afterwards the grasshoppers leave.
Later, back at the grasshoper headquarters, Molt's "friends" Axel and Loco tell Molt that it's pointless going back to Ant Island. When he agrees, they convince him to put the idea to Hopper as his own, in the hope that if Hopper doesn't like it, Molt will be the one who gets into trouble. When the idea infuriates Hopper, Molt frantically admits it wasn't his idea, and that Axel and Loco suggested it. Realizing there is dissent in his gang, Hopper kills Axel and Loco to point out the possible danger of the ants before heading with the rest of the gang back to Ant Island.
Near the end of the film, Molt is seen eating, enjoying and encouraging the circus. When when the ants charge at the grasshoppers, Molt sheds his peeling skin all at once in fright at the mass of ants, charging at his fellow grasshoppers, but rather than fleeing the island and abandoning Hopper like the others, runs and hides in the grass.
Molt survives the ants' rebellion, and in the end, he joins P.T. Flea's circus as a strongman, with a new nickname: "Tiny." When he climbs into the circus wagon, Molt expresses his thankfulness towards Flik for giving him a fresh start, until Manny and Gypsy closes the wagon (Molt says, "Shutting up," one last time).
A Bug's Life 2: The Revenge of the Grasshoppers
Gallery
Trivia
- Molt was created for the film to provide some comic relief out of the more uncomfortable moments with Hopper, but it was decided to make him Hopper's brother when it was realized that Hopper would never allow somebody as witless and annoying as Molt to stay with the gang otherwise.
- In one blooper, during the credits of the film, when Hopper gains closer on him, Molt accidentally backs into the camera and messes up the crew's equipment. Additional bloopers show Molt acting foolishly when Hopper shakes him angrily.
- Despite Molt being Hopper's younger brother, Richard Kind (Molt's voice actor) is actually three years older than Kevin Spacey (who voiced Hopper).
A Bug's Life |
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Media: A Bug's Life | A Bug's Life 2: The Revenge of the Grasshoppers | Soundtrack | Video Game | It's Tough to Be a Bug!
Characters: Flik | Atta | Dot | The Queen | Aphie | Hopper | Molt | Axel and Loco | Thumper | Dim | Rosie | Heimlich | Francis | Slim | Gypsy | Manny | Tuck and Roll | P.T. Flea | Dr. Flora | Mr. Soil | Thorny | Cornelius | Blueberries | The Bird | Chicks | Valian | Brutus, the Toad King | Toads | Dinamos | Grass | Termites | Termite Chief | The Lizard Locations: Ant Island | P.T. Flea's Circus | Bug City | Bug Bar | Hopper's Hideout Songs: The Time of Your Life |