Automaton skills won't cap but won't gain.

I've been trying to cap my Pup Skills but it stopped and didn't go blue.
I've got Forefront Animator (Automaton Boost: 106), Percolator, Optic Fiber, and Cirque Pantaloni +2 (Skill +10). My only Tier 1 Puppetmaster Merits are Activate and Repair Recast.

My magic skill is 434 base skill (the true skill level displayed on screen while skilling up), even though base cap is 424 (it 'showed' 434 since hitting 424 base bc of empyrean pants, but kept going actual 434 base) never turned blue, just stopped.
My ranged skill is 427 base skill, with base cap of 417. (same as above)
My melee skill is 427 base skill, with base skill cap 417. (tried using a different Animator for last level but still didn't register as capped, but won't gain)

I've tried even match (lvl 106) mobs for 3 hours and no skill ups. Then went to lvl 108 mobs in Adoulin and no skill-ups for an hour.

Is it even possible to cap blue skills if you use Forefront Animator before already achieving blue skills? I mean it's not going up no matter what I do, but they aren't displayed as capped. Tried using older Animators and didn't change anything.

I'm by no means new to skilling up, have capped every skill in the game aside from these automaton skills and SMN, but this makes me feel retarded.

The Producer said: "The animators with item levels have accuracy and other stats built into them, and it will not increase individual automaton skills (melee skill, magic skill, and ranged skill)." but I can't figure out why I can't cap blue.

Perhaps Automaton skills do not show in blue when capped because of the fact it shows what their cap is in the menu, and you can easily check it?

Nope, they are still supposed to turn blue.
Also, the skill caps shown in menu are incorrect if use the empyrean pants and/or merit the tier 1 PUP skills.
For example, my character having Empyrean pants but not the tier 1 merits the base skill cap is 10 levels higher than what shows on the menu. Once u hit base skill 417 w those pants on it shows 427, but u can actually increase the base skill to 427 (with no increase shown in the menu for those 10 levels). Which is why my base skills are 427/417, 427/417, and 434/424 base skills respectively, which should technically display as 437/437, 437/437, and 444/444 based on the way the pants effect a base skill of 417, 417, and 424 (the actual standard grade cap for the skills: A-, A-, A+).

You can also increase ur base skill 2 more additional levels to skill up per tier1 merit. So with a max category can get up to 444/424 magic for example (which should technically display as 455/455 because of the pants or even 465/465 bc of pants and merits). But didn't choose those merits for my character.