Dozerfleet Grand Ledge Office

The former home office of Dozerfleet Productions (also often dubbed the "Grand Ledge House" on this database,) located at 7779 E. Mt. Hope Hwy. in Grand Ledge, MI, is a former home residence (one of many) for the founder of Dozerfleet and for his family. It is also a major location for several Dozerfleet projects throughout the late 1990s and going into the early 2020s, being both a production studio for projects as well as serving as a setting for some.

Earth-GØ
This house was built in 1872, and had many owners over its first 120 years of existence.

The Dozerfleet founder's family moved around many times throughout their lives, as the ever-shifting winds of the economy demanded it. The Dozerfleet founder, born in Fort Myers, FL, lived in several homes in Kenosha, WI after living in Florida for about a year and some months. The Kenosha years lasted from 1984 until 1989, when the family moved to their house on Havana Ave. in Wyoming, MI. They moved again to 1500 Southlawn Dr. in 1992; and stayed there until August of 1998.

In spite not everyone being on board with moving to the house in Grand Ledge, it became the family's residence in late August of 1998. This placed it a lot closer in proximity to St. Matthew Lutheran Church and School, located in Holt, MI - which would become the Dozerfleet founder's high school. The operation that would develop into Dozerfleet, receiving that brand name officially in 2006, set to work almost immediately.

Early projects during the years 1998 and 2002 mostly tried to tie in with school assignments. "The Rock Cycle," for example, was first written in the year 2000 as an essay response to a geology quiz in a science class. Camp Jellybean was written in 2001 as part of a literature class assignment. Similarly, Replox: Abstract Foundations became a major assignment along those same veins in 2001, finally getting a release and showcasing in May of 2002. The Adventurous Adventures of Redundant Man was written in 2001 for a playwright contest that the school was promoting. It was ruled too short for the contest; but was suggested by the contest-holders as an excellent template for sketches for a cartoon TV show. The Gray Champion: Chastity's Plea was a fanfic written for a class assignment in 2001, as a challenge to write a sequel to Hawthorne's short story from 1837. It inspired the John Domeck character that would later feature in The Gerosha Chronicles.

While Stationery Voyagers, first inceived in the year 2000, was not a class project per se, many early ideas for it were inceived in-between classes while high school was in session. Likewise was the case with the parody song "Boozer," which would later go on to help found what would become known as the album Morbid! The Horrendous Hobo!!!, part of the Every Ape and His Brother song lyrics collection. In that time, the founder of Dozerfleet developed a crush on one Emily Kincare. Dolphinformia began as a newsletter in 2001, a fancy way to keep in touch with her in the days before Facebook. Alas, it was discontinued in 2002.

Early college years at Lansing Community College brought changes in short order. A slide design class inspired 90 Has No Secant in 2002, further inspired when a film class introduced students to The Ring. The American version of The Ring would later inspire the plot to The Blue Face Film Strips in 2003. Many other projects were either featured parts of the house or lot, or else were created at the house or on its greater lot throughout the years following that. The Trapezoid Kids and Grillitan Diner were among projects inceived both around the house and on campus at LCC. In late 2002, several concept art photos from Stationery Voyagers featured as classwork. This was also when early work began on Gored By Them Things, which wouldn't get a DSHW photocomic release online until 2004. Kings in the Corner in 2003, shot for a class, helped with selling the idea for a Mutt Mackley Show; but wasn't enough.

One of the most dramatic changes of pace, however, came in December of 2005. Renovations went underway to fix the upstairs bedroom where the Dozerfleet founder and his only biological brother were living. They were moved to the bedroom downstairs off the dining room, with their former bedroom being fixed up to become the new master bedroom. This made When Bikes Argue 2 the final project to be made inside the upper bedroom, before the entire operation relocated to the bedroom downstairs.

Changes were made to the living room, dining room, kitchen, downstairs bathroom, basement, and soon to almost every part of the home's interior, throughout the family's possession of it. The downstairs bedroom doubled as guest housing for a time after the Dozerfleet founder left Lansing Community College, transferring out to Ferris State University in August of 2006. Gaps in project development history in the lists below regarding the years 2006 - 2011 can best be explained as those being years where the Dozerfleet founder didn't primarily reside at the house in Grand Ledge. While a very distinct section is set up in the charts below for LCC projects, most Ferris works were done on campus in Big Rapids, leading to them not qualifying as being projects of the Grand Ledge house.

Volkonir Journals: Attempt #43 in 2008 was an exception to that rule, featuring the Grand Ledge house as a way to make it a loose sequel to Blue Face. It would be adapted to photocomic format later in 2021, since it had too many quality issues to be re-released on YouTube as a video. Also, with the founder's youngest biological sister no longer okay with appearing in the film, the machinomic adaptation of scenes of Katie led to the actress no longer being able to protest the work.

The Trapezoid Kids Dwell-A-Thon: A Look at The Blue Face Film Strips in 2007 featured recycled clips from Blue Face, recontextualized. Also in 2007, the documentary Farewell Graduate: A Day at the Open House was shot at this house, to commemorate a graduation open house party held for one of the founder's sisters, as she prepared to head off to college elsewhere. Web work and graphics to add public awareness of the Tri-Sola Poetry collection by Michael J. Hayes began in 2003, and continued well into 2018 on-and-off.

More project work started happening after the founder moved back to the house full time in late 2011. After finding a new job at the Grand Ledge Meijer store in 2014, the Dozerfleet founder was soon moved to an apartment in the Devonshire on Canal complex in August of 2015. Very few projects were made and completed at the Grand Ledge house afterward, given that 433 Charity Circle Apt. 1105 in Lansing became the base location for most Dozerfleet operations until late August of 2018.

Upon returning to the Grand Ledge home when rent got too expensive at Devonshire, the main bedroom / office for the Dozerfleet founder was moved back upstairs, to a tiny bedroom that had been a girls' room before he arrived. It was at one point a room that belonged to one of his sisters - who had moved out and gotten married in 2012. This bedroom, with pink paint still on the walls, became the main Dozerfleet office for the remainder of 2018, and for all of 2019 and 2020. In 2020, major emphasis was on getting Dozerfleet an official site again. Economic pressure suggested reviving the blog on Blogger, and revamping it. This began with giving Dozerfleet Labs a blog of its own; before the mainline Dozerfleet was given a blog for all the other divisions.

Ciem: Ash Cloud: Making the Forfica was one of the first major video releases to come out (in 2019) since the political ad Oh Really, Lena? from 2012. Penguin on Drugs and a remake of 3-13 became the final films made at the house in 2021, along with a trailer for Purge-Flare: Stickin' It to Pencil. All these videos were preceded in 2020 by the trailer to The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff. Finally, the house itself was uploaded as a downloadable lot to the Gallery to The Sims 4 in early March of 2021. This was the version of the house that was used for remaking Blue Face and for the machinomic parts of the remake of Volklonir Journals: Attempt #43.

Amidst adverse shifts in politics and state economics in Michigan in 2020, as well as pressure from certain companies for some older members of the family to enter into retirement, the family elected not to remain in Michigan any longer. They debated wherever else to relocate to, with the founder realizing that this decision would play a major role in deciding Dozerfleet's future office location. Suggestions included the state of Wyoming, Montana, Texas, Florida, or South Dakota. The Dozerfleet founder was especially fond of the ideas of Montana and South Dakota, yet the cold weather in these states resulted in vetoes from older family members.

In the end, the family elected to relocate to Oxford, Florida. The old house in Delta Township, just outside of Grand Ledge, was put up for sale. It sold in late February of 2021, and the Dozerfleet founder's family officially moved out on March 7th of 2021. They arrived at a hotel in northern Ohio for the night, then drove the next day to Georgia, staying at a motel just to the north of Atlanta. They moved in to their new home officially on March 10th of 2021. Nearly all Dozerfleet operations after that, were set to be performed in central Florida.

Mackleyverse
The pole barn, driveway, and basketball hoop all serve as settings in 3-13 and Penguin on Drugs. The latter was supposed to take place in a basketball court located behind North Bond Hall, but that version's film reel didn't survive the development process. The original 3-13 was supposed to be set inside South Bond 308. However, that version is now partially lost. Given that the ending was botched, a new ending to that early version got spliced in.

The drug bust at the end never made it into the final cut of the original version from 2008, leading to a new ending where Hooper and Mackley played cards from sunrise to sunset, with no plot otherwise. In 2020, a new production moved stage setting to the Grand Ledge house's pole barn. This version successfully recorded the entire script, with only minor tweaks to refine said script from its 2008 incarnation. Months of setbacks and delays resulted in this 2020 version not being released on YouTube until early 2021.

There were earlier attempts to remake 3-13, one in a different part of the driveway of the Grand Ledge house, and another attempt near a dumpster behind Brophy Hall. None of these attempts ever made it past the initial setup phase and opening scenes.

The living room, dining room, kitchen, side office, and several bedrooms all served as settings for Gored By Them Things prior to all of that. While preliminary artwork for Stationery Voyagers may have technically come first, the first widely publicly-available showing of the home's interior by Dozerfleet was with an early website, which featured Gored By Them Things from 2004 being featured on the site in 2005. The photos, like those in Stationery Voyagers, were partially taken initially in 2002.

Preliminary work for Mackley being involved in a speech at St. Matthew Lutheran High School in 1999 was rehearsed, but not recorded. Otherwise, this would have been the first Mackleyverse tie-in recorded, in 1999. Footage of Mackley being involved in a speech dates back to 1999, but has been lost to Dozerfleet archives.

The first "artsy" short film to feature the home in all of Dozerfleet history is Kings in the Corner from 2003, all of which took place inside of what was the boys' bedroom at the time, but has since been renovated into the master bedroom.

Eccentriaverse
Much of what would become the Eccentriaverse was built on the foundation of The Blue Face Film Strips. The long-dormant war for the fate of Earth and Cortascius between the Kingdoms of Cortascia and Gwirdonia is breathed new life into by the resurfacing of Marzwhatti the Lirquinwur. His killing Kelina Averes not only scars young Katie for life; but draws the attention of Volkonir. It's Volkonir's failure to get Katie's help later on, that results in him meeting Cassie Helm and Dereck Tumbline later on, leading to his restoration after the spell on him is broken. From there, Dereck's family gets "Vinny" in touch with one Dr. Hanom, creating the foundations for what would be the base opening premise to Volkonir: The Series. All other things Volkonir would branch out from there, including the only semi-canonical spoof Volkonir Meets the Power Rangers.

Bikeverse
Somehow, some event caused various vehicles in Michigan to become sentient. The effects are noticed some time later. While their ability to move around and alter the world on their own is limited, they are more than capable of exchanging thoughts. How they conceive of some of these thoughts remains a mystery. In July of 2005, three bikes get strapped to a bike rack latched to the back of a Ford Windstar minivan. They find themselves near a cabin further north in Michigan, and begin debating politics. Several months later, the entire pole barn where the bikes normally reside has a similar event happening. Other equipment and vehicles besides bikes get in on the act. When Bikes Argue 2 most prominently features the entire cast of this 2-parter, whereas the first one only features three bikes. The sequel also displays the property of 7779 E. Mt. Hope Hwy. so that it is almost unmistakable.

Stationery Voyagers
The home's living room served as a set stage for a few concept art photos for this since-canceled series. One display case served as the Cave of Mirrors in Neomlot, where King Neotondo and the Voyagers go to hide from Intimidator Irendus. The fireplace served as a train station along a mountainside, where Neone is exposed as being the long-lost princess. Another portion of the living room served as Neotondo's throne room in a different photo.

Dromedeverse
In the Dromedeverse, someone who became aware of the fate of Kelina Averes in the Eccentriaverse decided to make a movie about her demise. As such, a version of the house had to exist in order to make this possible. The Trapezoid Kids attempt to do a review of it, one dubbed The Trapezoid Kids' Dwell-A-Thon: A Look at The Blue Face Film Strips, resulting in them seeing glimpses of the home's interior in their native reality. The Dwell-A-Thon short featured the house in a few seconds of clips, and was done. Meaning, the home's existence in 2007 in Earth-DROM-1 is confirmed; even if it never becomes plot-relevant at any other point.

Specs

 * Lot size: 2.05 acres (Farmer allows additional grass fields to be cut to keep mice and ticks down, leading to about 2-1/2 acres of mowing.)
 * House area: 1,924 ft2
 * Estimated market value: $232,600 ; sold for about $238,000 in 2021.

Nearby early education
Given its proximity to Lansing, the house has multitudinous options for education at almost every age level. Children of religious families were encouraged to attend either Holt Lutheran Elementary School or Our Savior Lutheran School. As for secular schools and charter schools, these too were numerous. The public school assigned officially to this particular house for school bus routing is Delta Center Elementary. The religious school assigned routing for buses to this house is Greater Lansing Adventist School.

Nearby later education
While Our Savior Lutheran is the most ideal school for most tweens in the area, it lacks official school bus routing. Greater Lansing Adventist does have routing options for this house. The public school with routing for this house is Leon W. Hayes Middle School.

Mid-Michigan Lutheran High School is considered by some the most ideal high school for youth spiritual welfare; but not always the most equipped for college preparation of students. Greater Lansing Adventist has high school routing for buses for this house. Otherwise, this house is assigned the infamous Grand Ledge High School for an official bus route.

Small colleges and trade schools dot the landscape, given that the education industry is the most thriving in the greater Lansing area. Yet, the two most prominent secular college institutions in the region are Lansing Community College in downtown Lansing, and Michigan State University in East Lansing - just a few miles away to the east.

Nearby grocers
There are no shortages of places to buy food in the greater area within 5-6 miles of this house. Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target, and Kroger stand out as the most prominent grocery retailers. Perhaps the most unique of these stores, however, is the Horrocks Farm Market, located on the intersection of Canal Rd. and Saginaw Hwy.

Nearby fast food
There are hundreds of restaurants located just a few miles from this house as well. McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, A&W, Little Caesar's, World Buffet, Qdoba, Denny's, Hibachi Grill Sushi Buffet, Zaytoon Mediterranean, Golden Corral, and plenty more places to eat were scattered about the area during the Dozerfleet founder's time living there.

Nearby insurance firms
The greater area had no shortage of insurance firms either. Everything from Farmers' to State Farm, from Geico to Jackson National Life, from Auto Owners to Progressive, could be found in the area.

Nearby gas stations
A great many gas stations could be located in the area too. Everything from Sunoco to Speedway, from Meijer to Amoco, and from Mobil to Marathon, were available.

Nearby pharmacies
Meijer, Wal-Mart, Kroger, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Atlas, and CVS pharmacies were all available in the area.

Area crime rate
No significant crime data could be found on the area. According to CrimeGrade, there are about 53 total crimes on average in Grand Ledge per year, almost all of them petty crime. The area near the house has almost zero crime.

Dozerfleet projects created on location
The following projects were all created, either wholly or partially, on location at the Grand Ledge office:

In the 1990s

 * Mechanical Conflict (TV series pitch / written tales) (1998)
 * Yo-Splaz! Newsletter (1999-2000)
 * Livin' It Like al-Queada (song) (1999)

Dozerfleet projects featured in
The following projects all feature parts of this location in the background:

7779 E. Mt. Hope Hwy. for The Sims 4
Due to the slants for landscaping, and half-width walls being a thing in real life, this house proved difficult to adapt to scale. The basement and some other areas are left under-developed. Only the main living areas are adapted close to what they were in real life in any time period that Dozerfleet Productions was located here.