Ogel (Alpha Team)

Ogel, often referred to with the title Evil Ogel and occasionally stylized as OGEL, is the villain of the Alpha Team theme.
== Description ==
The original LEGO Alpha Team video game design of Ogel has a plain black torso/arms and legs, a custom armor piece, and a black helmet with a large gold visor. His face is never revealed. The color of his hands is inconsistent, with his in-game appearances in LEGO Alpha Team having yellow hands, but the intro animation for LEGO Logic giving him black hands. The final intro for the LEGO Alpha Team game shows him with both yellow and black hands at different points.
When LEGO released sets based on LEGO Alpha Team in 2001, Ogel's design was tweaked. He was given a slightly modified version of the Zotaxian armor piece, as the original version of the piece does not allow his helmet to fit properly. His hands were now consistently black, and his face was revealed (which partially recycles Señor Palomar's face design, but with a different mouth and slightly higher placed eyes, one of which is red). It is unknown if Ogel's face was designed by the game developers and just never shown by them, or if LEGO designed the face themselves when it came time to produce physical sets.
In the 2002 Mission Deep Sea sets, Ogel's design remained unchanged, aside from one of his hands being replaced with a Transparent Red hook, which was never specifically explained in the story.
When Alpha Team relaunched in 2004, the hook's color was changed to Transparent Fluorescent Blue.
== Background ==
thumb|right|Ogel's monologues
In the original LEGO Alpha Team video game, Ogel has captured most members of the Alpha Team, and is producing Evil Orbs that turn regular townspeople into mindless zombies (referred to as Skeleton Drones from the release of physical sets onward). The end goal of his plan is to load his Boggle Rocket with Evil Orbs and spread them across the whole world. The player, taking the role of Alpha Team chief, directs Dash and the other team members as they're rescued as they infiltrate Ogel's bases (Ogel Island, Goo Caverns, Deep Sea Orb Factory, and Arctic Command Base) and stop his plan. Throughout the game, Ogel occasionally appears, monologuing to the team members as they progress through his bases; one of his monologues accidentally gives away the existence of the secret Arctic Command Base. In the end, the Alpha Team succeeds in stopping the Boggle Rocket from launching, and Ogel accidentally triggers the self destruction of the Arctic Command Base in a tantrum.
The 2001 Alpha Team sets had a looser story surrounding them, but still followed the premise of Ogel attempting to take over the world by launching a rocket full of Mind-Control Orbs, though this time from the Ogel Control Center inside a volcano. In The Return of Ogel, after his defeat, Ogel uses disguised drones to distract Alpha Team while he uses lasers to destroy major cities, although the real Ogel is given away by his cat Mr. Whiskers. In Evil Music, Ogel attempts to control the world's weather via a special pipe organ, but is stopped by Dash and Cam. In the Rescue From Dino Island comic, Ogel uses his orbs to control the Dinosaurs and ruin the holidays, although his plan is foiled by Alpha Team, the Studios crew, and the Life on Mars team.
The 2002 sets, "Mission Deep Sea", involved Ogel altering his orbs to mutate sea creatures in an attempt to control the world's oceans. In the online game Into The Deep, Ogel is distracted by Cam while Dash sabotages his Evil Orb machine, though Ogel escapes in his Ogel Mutant Squid while his Ogel Underwater Base explodes. In Super Soggy Football!, Ogel kidnaps the champion red and blue Soccer / Football teams to play in his underwater glass dome, although he is caught by Pepper Roni while Alpha Team rescues the players.
In the 2004 story of the relaunched LEGO Alpha Team, Ogel's plan is to freeze the world and eventually time itself from his Mountain Fortress. His plan succeeds, but then Zed arrives to undo Ogel's victory. Ogel emerges in his Scorpion Orb Launcher to battle Zed's Blizzard Blaster. At the end of the comic, the LEGO Magazine had a contest for fans to write their ending to the battle; the winning entry was never revealed, but it is assumed that Zed defeated Ogel.
In the 2005 LEGO Club Feature Story Ogel Speaks, Ogel begins his summer vacation with an interview. He claims that he is legally changing his name from Evil Ogel to Misunderstood Ogel. Ogel reveals that he is a direct descendant of Vladek, the main villain of the Knight's Kingdom II series.Ogel Speaks!
== LEGO Description ==
== Gallery of Variants ==
== Appearances ==
* 6771 Ogel Command Striker
* 6776 Ogel Control Center
* 1427 Ogel Underwater Slizer
* 4798 Evil Ogel Attack
* 4795 Ogel Underwater Base and AT Sub
* 4748 Ogel's Mountain Fortress
=== Comic Appearances ===
* Adventures in LEGO World: The Return of Ogel
* Adventures in LEGO World: Rescue from Dino Island
* WATER, WATER... Nowhere?
* Super Soggy Football!
=== Online Game Appearances ===
* Evil Music
* Into the Deep
=== Video Game Appearances ===
* LEGO Alpha Team
== Behind the Scenes ==
Ogel was initially designed by Digital Domain, who were developing a video game then known as LEGO Logic. When LEGO Logic was redesigned into LEGO Alpha Team a mere six months before its release in 2000, Ogel was one of only two characters to be kept in the new design, the other being Tee Vee.LEGO Alpha Team Developer Interview
A LEGO Media International Character Development document written by Wes Jenkins on May 26, 2000 includes a profile for Ogel, whose name is formatted in all-caps as OGEL. His unique character traits include liking Public Address systems with thundering echo effects, and in the rare instances that he is seen, it is either from a distance or dangerously up-close. His special interests and hobbies include destruction, depression, and limiting imagination. His favorite color is that of whichever brick was most recently stolen; his favorite food is lima beans, liver, and sour milk; and his favorite instrument is his oversized accordion, which he uses to torture captured LEGO civilians with his off-key playing. The document describes OGEL in a sample scene on "OGEL Island"; it is unclear whether this is OGEL Island from LEGO Island or Ogel Island from LEGO Alpha Team.Lead Families & Character Development | Bricks to Bytes
Concept artwork for 55000 LEGO Universe by Jim Stigall depicts Ogel as a member of Paradox. He retains his classic face (albeit with a white pupil akin to the Evil Wizard) and left hook hand, as well as his black clothing and a similar piece of torso armor. However, his helmet is replaced with a red hood, and his torso armor is likewise colored red; his hand and hook have a purple glow; his legs are replaced with a sloped piece represent long robes; and his torso, robes, and arms feature printing. Notably, his right arm bears the Paradox emblem, suggesting that he may have been intended to appear as a member of Paradox faction. Textures titled "Torsos NPC Ogel" were found in the game files and match his design in this concept art, but Ogel never appeared in the game itself before it was closed on January 31, 2012.
== Notes ==
* His name is "LEGO" written backwards. According to Ogel in an interview with Redini, this represents the fact that he is the opposite of LEGO toys, being neither fun nor popular.LEGO Magazine November - December 2002, Page 02 This is affirmed by LEGO.com FAQs stating that OGEL represents the reverse of everything LEGO stands for.LEGO.com FAQs How did you come up with the name for the OGEL character and what does he stand for?
* In LEGO Alpha Team, Evil Ogel and Tee Vee were both voiced by Oliver Fredericks.
* On his LEGO Club Page sticker, his head is erroneously depicted as a skeleton head.
* An updated variation of his head appeared in the Castle theme as the Evil Wizard's head. The Evil Wizard controls undead Skeleton Warriors, much like how Ogel controls Skeleton Drones, making a thematic connection between the two villains.
* According to a LEGO Club Daily Brick news article, Ogel kept sending love poems to Radia. Unfortunately, this article has never been archived,http://club.lego.com/eng/newsandfeatures/story.asp?contentid=586 (dead link) leaving this factoid unable to be verified.
* Greg Farshtey regards Ogel as his favorite LEGO villain outside BIONICLE.Official Greg Discussion | Page 134
== Gallery ==
WesOGELBio.png|A partial bio for Ogel.
Ogel 1.png|Ogel in the original LEGO Alpha Team video game
Ogel 2.png|Ogel posing
Ogel 3.png|Rear view
LEGOAT~1 2016-08-14 20-38-48-16.png|Portrait of Ogel and his Zombies
LEGOAT~1 2016-08-14 20-39-43-62.png|Portrait of Ogel on his throne
Zotaxian vs Ogel armor.jpg|The original Zotaxian armor vs. Ogel's modified version
Senor Palomar vs Ogel head.jpg|Señor Palomar's head vs. Ogel's head
Ogel.JPG|Ogel Speaks LEGO Club Feature Story
LU Ogel.jpg|Concept artwork of Ogel for LEGO Universe
==References==
Category:Alpha Team Minifigures
Category:Minifigures introduced in 2001
Category:Minifigures first introduced in Video Games