Tom Hiddleston is poised to win this year's E! Online 'Celeb of the Year' contest. The winner will be announced tonight after he and competition Ian Somerhalder went head-to-head in a poll earlier this week. Hiddleston totally deserves to win after the year he's had touring the world to promote Thor 2: The Dark World and making press stops look like the most fun in the world. Thank goodness he was Marvel's PR monkey though, because that means we got a lot of Tom in 2013. Needless to say it was hard to choose just his top 13 moments, but I gave it a shot.
1. DANCING AND KNOCKING THINGS OVER
I could make a whole post just about best times Tom Hiddleston's danced (hint: the answer is all the times), but I've chosen to focus on when he dances and it just so uncontrollably excited that he isn't responsible for the damages he inflicts on inanimate objects. On the Asia leg of his tour he first introduced his moves to us and we felt like the chair he kicked over. But in a good way. We felt kicked over with delight.
2. THE SLUMBER PARTY
Hiddles in pajamas sitting on a bed talking about the time he saw Chris Hemsworth naked and introducing the Snake Hips dance move to us? Yes please.
3. THAT TIME HE CRASHED COMIC CON
In full on Loki gear and then proceeded to give everyone in the room orders which they all obeyed because obviously.
4. HIS STINT ON KOREAN SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
I don't know how they convinced him to do some of the sketches in this, but I'm glad they did because now we have an old woman titty-twisting Tom for posterity.
5. THAT TIME HE SURPRISED UNDERPRIVILEGED KIDS WITH A THOR 2 SCREENING
Because he's amazingly nice, he took time out of his schedule to throw a surprise screening of Thor 2 for some of New York City's underprivileged children. They thought they were just lucky enough to see the movie, but also got to meet Hiddleston. "Oh my God, I screamed for my life," 13-year-old Bryonnah Justinian said of the moment Hiddleston stepped onto the stage. But the best part about the actor is that it wasn't even a chore for him. He said, "There are armies of people behind the scenes who do tireless work on behalf of children all over the world. So it’s nothing for me to turn up and introduce a screening for them."
6. LOKI ARGUES WITH KIDS
Further proving that he'd be about the best dad ever, Hiddleston booked another gig with some kids to promote the movie. In the skit he argues with a bunch of children about why Loki is better than Thor. It's truly precious.
7. THE RETURN OF WENDY
When Avengers came out, Hiddleston and MTV's Josh Horowitz got together and filmed a funny little short where Hiddleston tries to prove he's a bad guy by doing things like switching Horowitz's coffee for decaf. In one of the scenes he plays a delivery man named Steve who has a large mustache named Wendy. The internet loved Wendy and quickly made her her own celebrity. This year, Steve and Wendy made a return and the internet rejoiced.
You can watch the first installment here, the bloopers here, and the second installment here.
8. ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE
2013 gave us clips of Hiddleston's new movie, Only Lovers Left Alive, where he plays a rockstar-turned-vampire in what could be the cheesiest movie ever but somehow looks really sexy?
9. TRYING TO TEACH COOKIE MONSTER ABOUT DELAYED GRATIFICATION
I 10000% love that instead of going with a Sesame Street-viewer age-friendly word like "patience" to teach Cookie Monster, proper British Shakespearian Tom went with "delayed gratification." Watch below to see Cookie Monster desperately try to get Tom to give him a cookie.
10. WHEN HE JUGGLED AND SANG POORLY BUT STILL WAS ADORABLE
While on the press tour in Germany, Hiddleston did an interview segment called Stars in Cars where he showed off his singing and juggling um... "skills." But even though he doesn't sound great and he drops all the balls he's juggling, you can tell he's still having a great time.
Here's his juggling:
and singing "Stand by Me" for your enjoyment:
11. WHEN HE WENT TO AFRICA ON BEHALF OF UNICEF
Hiddleston was so excited to go Guinea in January on behalf of children's charity Unicef that he talked about it for days on Twitter, sharing all his packing details and everything. He even made sure to bring "sweets and biscuits" because he was told "they go down really well with the children."
Of the trip he said he learned that it's "clear that the problems in a developing country such as Guinea are enormous, but ... above all else, the children, who will inherit the future, and shape the future of this country – need clean water, iron, minerals, vitamins, inoculation against disease, and education."
12. THE PRANK INTERVIEW
One of his last press stops for Thor 2 was a prank interview with Smosh where fans got some of the best gifs from the entirety of the movie promotion. Hiddleston imitated Natalie Portman on the Thor 2 poster:
was nicknamed Kidneystone:
and was asked about bronies:
13. TOM ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA
2013 was a good year for Tom Hiddleston, but it was an even better year for me because I got to meet him. And for those of you who think this is a selfish moment to choose for this list, just wait. Yes, I did get to meet Tom, but I picked this moment because I got to see in person just what a great guy he is. He signed pictures, and took selfies with everyone even in the rain. It was raining, it was early, he had been doing press for months, but he took time to take selfies with his fans because he's an amazing guy. And if that's still not reason enough for me to pick his Good Morning America trip, then let's just say it was because he imitated Owen Wilson again, because that's always the best too.
Also, here's the selfie he took with me because it's been two months and I still can't stop looking at it:
And here's to 2014 bringing us even more Tom Hiddleston to enjoy.
Images: tomhiddleston-gifs/Tumblr; tomhazeldine/Tumblr; demigodloki/Tumblr; perfecthiddles/Tumblr; torrilla/Tumblr; tomhiddleston-gifs/Tumblr; mishasteaparty/Tumblr; tomhazeldine/Tumblr; cartoonlogic/Tumblr
