Despite only being eight episodes long, Bubblegum Crisis has enough one-shot characters to satisfy literally anyone. You’ve got badass Boomers, friends, lovers, vengeful maniacs, and devilish CEOs. They’re all memorable for their own reasons; for example, Irene from “Born to Kill” is plucky and determined, more so than a lot of the victims of Boomer violence are, and manages to have her legacy continue into a later episode. But I’m not here for Irene.
I’m here for my favorite: the sassy, gay best friend/partner (in a police way), Daley Wong.
This guy could have been written in a completely different manner, but for the 1980s, his depiction was revolutionary: he was a competent police officer whose sexual preference wasn’t mocked or belittled. Sure, he and Leon, his partner, consistently joked around about getting it on in the back of a police cruiser, and sure, he dresses fabulously, but being gay didn’t prevent Daley from being considered the best choice to lead raids or direct missions. Hell, Daley was more trusted by the chief of police than Leon was.
I’ll be getting more into Daley, and sexuality in this series as a whole, later on this month, but I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that he was my favorite secondary character – and honestly, my favorite character in the series, period – before going on to work on my concept map for nursing school clinical. It’s really being a pain in my ass at the moment.