hello, ive been buying 9 speed ybn chains but I was wondering if anyone had a link for legit 11-12 speed shimano chains, I am confused which shimano chains are real or not as some do not come with quicklinks and they are supposed to be packaged seperately and sometimes the reviews say that they are real. Or should I completely stay away from shimano chains, what other chains are good alternative apart from YBN?

Sounds fun, got any pics of those?

And yeah, I totally get you. I'm just a sucker for colors. Resale value is a good point as well but it isn't a high priority for me.

You could have a bad 12 speed cassette. I would try another 12 speed cassette if possible, do a hard reset on the groupset and see if that will help. If it shifts an 11 speed cassette fine, it should work fine for 12 speed.  Something tells me the issue must be hardware related. So you'll have to do your best to narrow down the possibilities.

My 5 cents: careful with colours. You can get super durable decals cut for cheap locally, and you can change your mind every week. You can't change your mind with a colour. A colour also directly affect resale value. I chatted with a guy on Insta with a 168, white, who said his only regret was getting the frame painted white.
I got mine in glass black and am trolling Factor with Tractor decals. If i grow up one morning, i can remove them, it's fully reversible. My previous bike i painted orange because i loved the Giant propel from 2000 something in matte orange. Let's say my paint job didn't come out neaaaaarly as nice... I wish i had kept it black.