Big Rapids/Notable in-town locations

The following is a list of locations in Big Rapids relevant to Dozerfleet history that happened off of the Ferris State campus.

413 S. Warren Ave.


In the early spring semester of 2007, the Dozerfleet founder encountered an open house party being held at this house while riding a bike back to McNerney Hall after watching TMNT in theaters.

707 Cypress St.
The basement of this house in Big Rapids was used for shooting the trailer for Volkonir. Almost all props seen in the majority of the trailer's runtime were native to that basement - including the original Candle of Hope prop and the Trinket of King Morlikus. The Dozerfleet founder did the trailer voiceover for Volkonir using voice acting and modulation via editing, since John DeBruyn was unavailable for voice recording on shooting day.

Hillcrest Oakwood Properties
Hillcrest Apartments in Big Rapids (formerly Hillcrest Village Apartments) was where Blood Over Water director Chris Wilson resided in the fall of 2009. He portrayed Chris Kennal in Blood Over Water. However, the story had it that Mark Stefflin (played by Zach Foster) resided there. The apartment being in Mark's name is also canon to the 2013-inceived novel of Cataclysmic Gerosha continuity.

In the original miniseries of Blood Over Water, Apartment 201-H is explicitly identified as being where Mark resides. (In reality, Chris resided here, and let Zach while playing Mark borrow it.) Ashley in Classic Gerosha pretends to be lost, and in search of 201-A. Along with several other locations, this one is downloadable for The Sims 4, via The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff.

617 Ives Rd.
Around that time, the founder of Dozerfleet had friends in town living at this location. He developed feelings for a woman there named Merre, though things didn't work out between them in the end. He selected their theme song at the time to be a variation of "Broken" by Lifehouse.

This track was considered later for the Trapezoid Radio segment of A Decade of Ambition in the DVD bonus features section. However, it was replaced with a Trapezoided variation of "Broken" by Seether, one that turned Shaun Morgan into Cornert Mindoche and Amy Lee into Stigmie Sletterman. While he was not impressed by 2008's Twilight film; she enjoyed it greatly.

516 N. Michigan Ave.
This house was where actor Zach Foster was staying when Blood Over Water was shot, and it was the rental home for Aaron Stefflin in-series. It is available for download for The Sims 4, courtesy of The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff.

246 S. Bronson Ave.
While never visited during the Ferris study years, this house became the Ashley Phillips home for the remake of Blood Over Water. The original miniseries never stated where Ashley lived in town, as Angelica was never more than a cameo in the fifth episode in that version.

417 S. Michigan Ave.
This location, while never significant during the Ferris study years, became retroactively significant as the split house / apartment setup where Chris Kennal was residing during Blood Over Water. This was due to the fact that the character had to be living somewhere other than Hillcrest, given that actor Chris Wilson's apartment was being used as Mark Stefflin's residence.

430 Spring St.
This house never had any significance during the Ferris study years. However, it retroactively was assigned the role of being Monica Shelly's rental home in Blood Over Water.

In the original miniseries' timeline, however, Monica's residence in town is never specified. In real life, actress Cassie Tyler was staying in the Puterbaugh / Henderson Hall complex in the fall of 2009.

514 Marion Ave.
While also never significant during the actual Ferris State study years, this home retroactively became the Celestine family's home for the webcomic version of Blood Over Water. This is because the Celestines needed to live somewhere in town, in order for Aaron, Erin, Candi, Miriam, and Marina to have visited with them.

For Volkonir

 * K-Mart: The K-Mart that was once located in Big Rapids was where the original toy sword used for Selshon was purchased, as can be seen in the trailer for Volkonir.


 * Goodwill: Goodwill of Big Rapids was where the original silk gold pants and black cape for Volkonir's original suit was purchased, along with a green shirt. The combination would later inspire his knight armor colors in development.


 * Big Lots: This Big Lots features in the trailer for 2008's Volkonir short film. Recording was done quickly, as temperatures were bitter cold enough to endanger the camera's internal motor, which would have destroyed the tape.

For Ferris State Live and Ferris in Focus

 * Gilberts' Carpets Plus: The Gilberts' Carpets Plus ad made up yet another that featured in Ferris in Focus and Ferris State Live.
 * Big Rapids Furniture: This place's ad for Ferris State Live and Ferris in Focus was shot here.
 * The original website featured around that time has since been taken down, though Big Rapids Furniture did join the Furnishing Network. No current relevant information is available on the store, as the location on Google appears to show a Sherwin Williams and Family Dollar in that address location.

Biggby Coffee
Further viewing: Google Maps

Biggby of Big Rapids proved one of the most friendly establishments for Dozerfleet creations in the city. Parts of Ciem 2 were shot inside of it. It's also mentioned in-universe that one of Vinny's favorite places to go in town was Biggby. In Volkonir Meets the Power Rangers, Kim buys him a new coffee mug to replace the one she smashed to weaken Slaisionnach with. They comment on this as they head to Mancino's and Vinny comments to MODM about how identical Biggby and Mancino's in the Rangers' world are to his own world's versions. This is the point where MODM first explains the "Every Big Rapids is the Same" rule.

There were suggestions to shoot episode 2 of Blood Over Water here, but not everyone in the class wanted to go along with that. The original cut of that scene was near the Starbucks inside the IRC building, which could have been disastrous for broadcast given Starbucks' protection of its logo and trademark at the time. Eventually, a different section of IRC was used for that scene, eliminating the need to incorporate either Biggby or Starbucks.

Since the initial preliminary filming for Ciem 2, the Biggby store underwent some redecorating. The vibrant yellow-orange walls were repainted a more festive Christmas red color. Its original colors were restored in-game for The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff.

For Kozerlen and the Mackleyverse

 * JC Penney: The local JC Penney in downtown Big Rapids was at one point going to be a shooting location for the pilot episode of Kozerlen, before the practicum class abandoned Kozerlen for what would ultimately morph into Blood Over Water. This corner is where Jessie Morcin awakes and discovers the note with "Kozerlen" written on it.

Other shops

 * Family Video: This Family Video store was a frequent stop for renting films that would be used for school projects - or just because. One of these was Hollow Man 2, which was used for a philosophy class assignment.  In 2020, Family Video closed all its brick-and-mortar stores.  The building was divided into two parts.  One of these became a Hungry Howie's, with the other becoming the Big Rapids Foot and Ankle Clinic in 2021.


 * Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart of Big Rapids is where the Dozerfleet founder did most food and accessory shopping outside the confines of on-campus cafeterias. Initially, it had a Flagstar ATM inside.  This was eventually removed, which made banking more difficult.


 * Wesco: Very conveniently nearby to Wal-Mart was a Wesco gas station.


 * Meijer: Not as much shopping occurred here, although the Dozerfleet founder's first TV stand was purchased here for $44.
 * This inspired the TV stand that Hadley Mint has in Room 241 of North Bond in Sorbet.
 * Many Meijer Madness events were held here in that time.
 * It as during the August 2006 Meijer Madness that the Dozerfleet founder had the whole theater to himself for Snakes on a Plane - which inspired an animated series pitch.

Crossroads Charter Academy
Further viewing: Google Maps

Stationery Voyagers artist Brooklyn Lackney once attended school here. She later went on to become a stylist elsewhere.

Redeemer Lutheran Church
Further viewing: Google Maps

This is where the Dozerfleet founder and others attended church on Sundays. It was a small establishment on the outskirts of town, and often didn't have a regular pastor. Whoever spare was available from the synod would fill in, or else a vicar would preach. Some friends of the founder's had their wedding photography here, even if their actual wedding was at the courthouse. They couldn't afford a church wedding at the time.

Restaurants

 * State Street Scoops: This little shop used to be a Dairy Queen Brazier, and was a proof of concept for the Grillitan Diner.
 * Mancino's Pizza and Grinders: After a 2009 remodel, Mancino's Pizza and Grinders of Big Rapids wanted an ad to promote business for their new layout. The Dozerfleet founder and Tabby Young teamed up to make "Mancino's Pizza commercial 2010."  Kaileen assisted, eating a grinder to demonstrate how nice the new establishment was.
 * The ad was going to be voiced with the at-the-time established "Volkonir" voice effect, but this narration was cut in favor of a voiceover from Josh Byers. "Soporific" by Kevin MacLeod comprised the soundtrack, since instructor Glen Okonoski was uncomfortable with using Kevin's track "Darkness is Coming."  Work to perfect this ad led to last-minute edits of Blood Over Water running overdue, preventing the Ferris Access Channel from ever broadcasting it.
 * This Mancino's was later used as a location for the denouement of Volkonir Meets the Power Rangers, in which MODM explains the "Every Big Rapids is Roughly the Same" rule central to Megaverse mythology and cosmology.
 * Buffalo Wild Wings: Tabby Young did a special Big Rapids Life segment on this store for "Sleepy Theatrical Wings." However, the instructor thought the piece too closely resembled an ad, and warned her against offering free advertising to local venues.

AMC Theater
The AMC Theater (formerly the Carmike Theater) in Big Rapids is host to an alleyway. That alley was where Toy Volkonir was discovered by Cassie Helm in 2008's Volkonir. That same alley is used for scenes involving Gambino Penguin in Mutt Mackley and Gambino Penguin's "Somewhere I Belong".

The evening of August 25th of 2006, most Ferris students were attending the Meijer Madness event. The Dozerfleet founder went to the Carmike, and had almost the entire theater exclusively to himself. Snakes on a Plane was showing. Its ending immediately inspired ideas for an animated series spinoff. Snakes on a Blog mentioned this animated series pitch; but New Line never contacted about it. In the spring of 2007, TMNT was on at that same theater. It was also the location where the founder saw The Dark Knight and took a date to see Hancock in 2008.

Since AMC took over, they placed a white stucco facade over top the red brick exterior that appears in the alleyway. They also removed the chain link fence, which looked silly and produced a ludicrously narrow walkway for anyone entering the alleyway. For The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff, the Carmike Theater's original colors were restored. However, the real building was shut down permanently in 2020.

Innovative Grafix
Further viewing: Google Maps.

The Innovative Grafix ad that featured in 2010's shows on the Ferris Access Channel reference this Big Rapids location.

Ice Mountain plant of Stafford
A few miles south of Big Rapids is the town of Stanford, home to a bottling plant for Ice Mountain. While they were replaced with Sleet Mountain for the YouTube publication of Blood Over Water as well as the novelization inceived in 2013; original raw cuts of the class miniseries had the villains literally working for Ice Mountain.

Edits removed this, to avoid the Ferris Access Channel facing potential litigation for defamation. Sleet Mountain is where Clyde Spendelworth crafts most of his evil schemes, before Chris goes on a nationwide rampage to destroy Clyde's Gleeful-N'-Young empire. Chris proves highly successful for six years, before being trapped in Gerosha during a Hebbleskin Gang takeover while in the middle of chasing down Frank Morvel during the events in the Cataclysmic Gerosha story Ciem: Inferno.

With Candi in jail and her Ciem identity exposed, Miriam Flippo becomes desperate to destroy the Hebbleskins' energy dome so the city can be saved without Candi - or the local police. However, the only hero physically strong enough to stand up to Lava Tigre and Frank Morvel both, as far as Miriam is concerned, is Chris.

They form a shaky alliance to fight for Gerosha's freedom, while Candi tries to negotiate to get some of her own freedom back. After a fateful sequence of events, Candi is temporarily let out of jail. She promptly returns to Gerosha, and seizes advantage of Miriam catching a lucky break to get past the energy dome and enter the city. The villains are defeated; but Miriam decides the best way to reward Chris is by giving him the best possible chance to flee town without being discovered by police too soon. This backfires on her, and she is convicted of aiding and abetting a fugitive. For her accident in revealing the existence of Zeran wardrobes, Candi is sent back to prison at Madison Juvenile Correctional Facility. Miriam is sent to SCALLOP Juvenile Containment Center in Texas.

Leaving his Gerosha adventures behind, Chris whittles his way into hunting Clyde down, working his way through Gleeful-N'-Young and the Hebbleskins' ranks. Finishing Clyde off for good requires him to gain the assistance of Extirpon and the Gray Champion - just in time for the three of them to immediately be needed to respond to a full-scale Icy Finger assault on Cincinnati during the events in Ciem: Ash Cloud.

Cataclysmic Gerosha would require a full-on actor to portray the slimy Clyde character. Due to lack of volunteers, the shaded backside of Zach Foster was used for Clyde in episode 5 of the Blood Over Water miniseries in Classic Gerosha.

Debbie Carley's office was used as the Sleet Mountain main office, as much of Bishop Hall was used as a stand-in for Sleet Mountain's Lower Northern plant. Class instructor Nathan Meadows was supposed to portray Clyde, but was unavailable on shooting day. Obscuring Zach became a must, as Zach was already established as portraying both Mark and Aaron Stefflin.