I fucking love crabs. I am from MD, and we take that shit seriously. You guys complaining about work vs reward have never eaten crabs properly, and if you are bitching about dungeness well you're just wrong. Try sitting down to pile of blue crabs and tell how much it sucks.
First if you are leaving meat in the crab you haven't learned to properly pick a crab.
Second if crabs are properly cooked and you know what you're doing there are no tools required besides your hands.
Third, eating crabs is not a meal. It is a long feast done with friends, beer, and no particular time table.
You drink, and BS, and eat, and get messy not until you're full but until you are done. Your hands are cut and stinging from the old bay, and the party is over.
:x
Oh and I don't really like soft shell crabs either.