the silicone feel a little too short in a stock shell to me, but they fit perfectly in the custom shell I got from from kitsch-bent. I cant tell visually any difference in the thickness of the shells, so i guess its just like 1mm or so making a noticable difference.

also, i recognize that tube of solder and pump from one of your earlier pictures. seems we bought the same soldering iron kit.

Yeah, I'm guessing if I would've bought the shell from Kitsch-Bent, it would've been a perfect fit.
It's not a HUGE problem. The A/B and Start/Select feel great. It's just the D-Pad. I can feel a slight difference from the stock D-Pad. Like you said: it's literally about a 1-2mm difference, but I can't complain. It works and that's all that matters.

Haha, yeah I got it off Amazon. Does the job!

also, i recognize that tube of solder and pump from one of your earlier pictures. seems we bought the same soldering iron kit.

Purchased the silicone glow-in-the-dark buttons from Kitsch-Bent.
They feel a bit too close to the shell, but they work just fine.
Will probably end up buying the regular plastic ones in the future, but I do like the silicone feel.

Also, they have the Density Backlight and a VC Backlight. Not sure what the difference is.

Maybe try this one last thing if you haven't thrown it against a wall already!

Buying new everything.

If I dont, I'll end up throwing this against the wall and/or smashing it to bits.

I'll just use it for parts.
Thanks for the help, everyone.

Also, when I first placed the polarizer, it didn't work as well, so I peeled away and found a blue film still stuck on it.
But again, still didn't work.

Also, thanks for all the help so far, everyone! I really appreciate it. (:

Try unseating the ribbon cable from the back board again and checking that no traces have come loose or bent back on the end of the ribbon cable. This has happened to me before and I've fixed it by cutting a straight edge on it again with a decent pair of scissors.

Also, I'm assuming you removed the original protective film from the back of the glass on the game boy screen (another stupid one I know). This is also the bit where ribbon cable damage is most likely to happen. If you have damaged the cable it should be fairly easy to spot by gently pulling the screen outwards again. The horizontal cables are soldered to the board behind the screen and the vertical cables are attached to the front of the screen at the bottom.

Well, it is kind of bent on one corner. I'd take a picture, but you wouldn't be able to tell, but in person, the tip is bent a little backwards. A tiiiiiiny bit, however.
I've looked everywhere else for minutes and don't see a tear or any other imperfection. It's been driving me crazy. Lol

All the backlight is doing is lighting up. So if that is working (which it is) then it's not the issue. Can you post an image of the screen without the polarizing film in between the backlight and the lcd? Put like a little piece of paper with something written on its in place.

Here you go! It's bright out today and I don't know how big I should've made the paper, but yeah lol.

Also, I'm assuming you removed the original protective film from the back of the glass on the game boy screen (another stupid one I know). This is also the bit where ribbon cable damage is most likely to happen. If you have damaged the cable it should be fairly easy to spot by gently pulling the screen outwards again. The horizontal cables are soldered to the board behind the screen and the vertical cables are attached to the front of the screen at the bottom.