4th Gen how fair is that?

[rstevenson1976]

the most common of the pokes that can steal Red's Pikachu's magic yellow ball (using TMs pluck(?) or thief) would be zapped into oblivion before they can even use it?

 

[bobandbill]

...I'm not really sure what you are trying to say here - a complaint that a Pokemon that can steal Pikachu's item will likely faint to Pikachu instead of manage to pull of a move? I guess that's just a challenge you'd have to overcome if you want it (and not from say wild Pikachu instead). However I don't see much discussion to come from this tbh (besides 'yeah it isn't' or 'well use x Pokemon for that!/'train it to a higher level then!'/'sacrifice a focus sash for it then!', especially when it isn't really clear to begin with, so I'll close. (And after all, Red isn't meant to be easy...)