Before we judge, we have to understand the thoughts of the person who pulled off said prank. In all honesty, freaking brilliant. While many of the effected were painfully wronged in some way, you still must remember the problem has a fairly easy fix (or so it was said previously). Did said giver of bad gifts learn a lesson about the prank, in the standing of our laws. I believe this too was an affirmative. Now how far did said person cross the line of poor action apposed to wonderful prank? Did he even cross the line, or did he come close to the line at all? These questions are all personal opinions based on the belief of each person pondering said questions, but when you really look back with an open mind the humor to it all is there. That is what I think the whole topic is about. Whether right or wrong, we can assume the answer, that part is irrelevant. We should solely be talking about the reaction to this, and not bashing someone for attempting to create a memory no one else would dare pull off in in this specific way.
The way it was done in compared to james (I only watched the original cartoon series so not sure how he acts now) I think this is right around the type of thing he would attempt. Now as for what it did to the game, I think it would have transferred something out in exchange for this pokemon instead. Though that would have been a much worse prank and not worthy of humor. Still I think the action was great in respect to the likeness. In the end no one got hurt that I know of (game or personally) and the "bad guy" got caught. (someone said he got caught right?) Things like this make cosplay extremely enjoyable to hear about. I would prefer there was no harm done at all, but like with ash, even a prank that hurts, also makes you that much stronger in the end from the experience.
Lov~
Discus....