Here's my case:
EFHW-faust-MiX scum team, with
faust as the Monk and
MiX as the Espheni Queen. I'm going to assume the Espheni Queen is super important and could lose scum the game if she dies. For that reason, scum will try hard to protect her, or rather, EFHW and faust will try hard to protect MiX.
Both faust's and EFHW's early behavior was to prevent a MiX lynch. faust started the EFHW wagon to pull votes off of MiX, thinking there was no chance EFHW would actually die. When he realized the wagon was working, he panicked.
MiX on the other hand has played along with both of them, but in particular faust, by following his every command. It's worth looking at post-by-post.
Shall we begin? I'll underline key points.
* MiX wagon starts up.
*
Neither faust nor EFHW supports the MiX wagon. EFHW is one of the few people defending MiX. faust has a singular vote on MiX very early, which he promptly changes and starts defending MiX too.A MiX wagon? How unoriginal.
* His attitude is further reflected when MiX reaches L-1, where faust gives this comment:
What is this BS?
I'd feel the same way if my scum team lost the game d1 too.
*
MiX had poked faust a few days prior with a weak scum-read, but gets defensive when asked about it:Are you serious? No I don't put random pressure on faust as scum, it's absolutely pointless! I sheep, buddy and sheep him again! Think about this wagon for a second before you resume it, please.
(Checks votes) 5 votes? You guys never fail me. Great streak I have, getting a sizeable wagon every D1, even when I don't want to.
PPE 2: What faust said.
I find this post suspicious.
* Once the MiX wagon picks up steam EFHW frantically asks for a vote count. Because remember: if the Queen dies, scum is fucked.
vote count please!
EFHW had no intention of lynching MiX d1 and never voted for him once. She defended him. So why did she, a member of scum, ask for a vote count? It sounds like she was concerned about her Queen.
*
As MiX picks up more and more votes, faust realizes things are going south and that his Queen is on the verge of getting lynched. He asks his partner for help starting a new wagon so that MiX can be saved:Hey EFHW, you seem to be scumreading Galzria, but you're not voting. Want to make a wagon?
This comment is key - it's a partner tell between the two. But EFHW denies him because it would make the two of them look bad.
* MiX tries to jump on EFHW just how he tried to jump on faust - two people that are defending him. He's nervous and trying to make himself look better by voting for his partners.
But EFHW needs some heat.
Vote: EFHW.
* faust responds telling him not to:
Look at the vote count. This is not going anywhere unless you give some reason for why we should vote EFHW. And if you're not prepared to do that, please put your vote somewhere more useful.
*
MiX listens to buddy faust and immediately unvotes 2 minutes later. Remember when MiX was suspicious of faust only a few pages earlier? Why is he doing what faust says?Unvote
* Faust replies a minute later:
It's not like unvoting is going to improve the situation.
Why does faust think the game is in a bad situation? What does he care?
* Eventually, MiX claims:
Alright. Let's go...
Claim: I am the best role in the game. I have a plan that will inevitably IC me. I am a "Leader". We need to lynch today. My flip will tell you everything you need to know about my role except this: I do it 2 or 3 times. Everything else is pointless if I die now.
*
Only 2 minutes later, coach faust replies fast with this comment:Can you specify whether you are a Skitter?
How did he realize "Leader" = "Skitter" so quickly?? Remember: faust claimed he was not familiar with the flavor. Did he really notice MiX's post, jump on the wiki, search, think about what to ask, and then ask it in 108 seconds? Or did he already know MiX's fake claim?? What's more likely here?BTW, note that Googling "Falling Skies Leader" does NOT return results for Skitters.
* Here's the post where faust says he doesn't know the flavor:
I don't know the flavor at all.
* Anyway, the next two posts are funny:
I am. What gave it away, the Leader part?
I'd rather not say.
Keep in mind that Glooble - an actual skitter leader - has no QT knowledge of other Skitters. So why would faust? It's laughable. faust should have just said, yeah man, I got it from the "leader" part.
* faust starts a wagon on EFHW to pull votes off MiX and distance himself from her:
Vote: EFHW
Note that e was being wagoned for the very same reason, with EFHW voting for him.
If faust was town and believed in his own argument, he'd hop on the e wagon too. Instead, he started a wagon on his partner to distance himself from her.
* faust's argument against EFHW gets questioned because he didn't vote for MiX either. He reminds everyone he voted for MiX too... once!
I did vote for MiX early, which is why I didn't put myself in that group.
* Weirdest post of the whole thread happens, with faust hastily trying to draw votes off MiX:
Need more EFHW voters. If you vote before L-4 you'll get a personal thank-you note via PM once the game is concluded.
* MiX listens to coach faust immediately, not understanding the plan:
Okay? I'll hold you to this promise.
Vote: EFHW
*
Soon the EFHW wagon picks up steam. faust panics and tries to abort:Anyone want to start a wagon on joth? I can't right now, but seriously the guy is scummy and needs some heat. Let's make today EFHW vs joth. That would make me happy.
* faust becomes increasingly panicked and has several posts trying to convince others to abandon ship. But when he changes his vote, there's no case behind it. He doesn't talk about joth. It's just an empty post.
Vote: joth
*
MiX is convinced by coach faust to join him on a joth wagon:So is everyone derailing every wagon at the same time? This makes me want to lynch EFHW even more!
Rereading is hard, but I'll be here around deadline, so maybe I can move somewhere useful?
joth.
Reeeeeeally? Fiiiiiiine.
Vote: joth, but it's mostly because everyone's derailing the EFHW wagon.
* But soon MiX puts his vote back on EFHW:
Great wagons all around. Realistical wagons: Galzria/EFHW/joth. Wagons I'm willing to support: EFHW/joth. Vote untill I wake up:
Vote: EFHW
I do understand faust's theory, but what can scum do about EFHW? Maybe they thought it would die down or something, any movement is scummy when she flips scum.
Yes, any movement off EFHW appears scummy when she flips scum. That's what he was thinking when he threw EFHW back under the bus. But how did he know EFHW was going to flip scum?
Like WHAT?? Why did he say EFHW was going to flip scum?? Read his post. He said EFHW will flip scum.* The next morning he wakes up to make this post:
Hello, I'm here. I see that joth has stopped being a wagon and Galz is obviously town? Yeah I want EFHW lynched today.
Seriously, Galz is towny enough to not be the D1 lynch, get that out of your heads people. Whereas EFHW hasn't done anything spectacular.
* Coach faust replies to him:
I am not a big fan of the Galz wagon either, but I would prefer it over EFHW.
* He listens to coach faust yet again despite himself admitting Galz is town:
Well, we're lynching town. Thus is D1.
Vote: Galz, EFHW's not really diverging from her town meta.
This post makes no sense. He said earlier EFHW would flip scum, but now he's voting for someone he thinks is town?
* Ultimately MiX changes his vote back because his master plan requires a lynch... for "IC" reasons. His post contained a lot of scum speculation on joth and - the person faust had been trying to frame - but I am snipping it out for brevity.
Vote: EFHW
* EFHW flips scum
* Next day faust and MiX have this little interaction:
Well that was disappointing. shraeye, PPS and pubby have played terribly.
It's always the town that are the most dissappointing.
What a strange thing for both of them to say. Shouldn't they be suspicious of us 3? Why are they acting like we're all town?
* More little interactions I found interesting:
Does someone who has flavor knowledge have any idea what having a headache might indicate?
Do you have it?
Asking for a friend.
* Even more interactions:
Yes, all the way to "if when the night falls" part
Please be careful with quoting mod-provided info, I don't want you modkilled. This one's probably fine because it's in the OP.
I double-checked that before posting it, don't worry.
Hey, townslip! Plz don't modkill me ash.
-
MiX claims he has the best role in the game, and that he absorbs powers of people that die. Hmmm... Does that sound like a Skitter ability? Or does that sound like the ability of the all-powerful Queen who's known in the show for enslaving and stealing peoples bodies?
There's absolutely nothing hinting towards Paint Face being a universal backup on the Falling Skies wiki. If anything, he'd be some type of investigative role. Or just a backup to Glooble's ability, but he claims that's not the case and neither him nor Glooble know about each other.
MiX's plan from the start was to copy someone's ability, then use this to "IC" himself. He said it in the beginning: he needs a lynch d1 to show he's town and is willing to lynch a townie to make it happen. But why? Why would a townie be so insistant on proving themself? To me, only scum plays that way.
To answer your final question:
Really? Suppose scum!me's plan was to start a wagon on a partner and then derail it once the deadline comes around... why on earth would I choose the partner that has announced VLA leading up to the deadline? That makes no sense whatsoever.
Because the leading wagon was Queen MiX, and the only other wagon was e, which EFHW had just jumped on. You did not expect the EFHW wagon to take off, you just hoped it would pull a few votes off of MiX and fail. In the process, you would have distanced your connection to EFHW. If you believed you had a good/reasonable case against EFHW you wouldn't have offered people personal thank you letters for joining you. Unfortunately the wagon worked and you panicked.