This segues nicely back to the How Do You Define Authentic? thread.
I maintain my view posted in that thread; that we over-complicate what ‘authenticity’ means when it comes to Pokemon Cards.
To me, authenticity simply hinges on whether there was official intention by the IP holder to create a card. Specifically, intention to create it exactly as it appears in its final format.
If at the point of creation TPCi officially intended to manufacture a card, then it is ”authentic”. Regardless of what happens to that card in terms of release, distribution, theft, redacted official release, if that intention was there, then it is authentic.
In respect to Prerelease Raichu, there is no confirmation that there was official intention by WOTC / TPCi to create that card in its final format. For me, that’s end-of-story. The underlying Raichu may well be authentic, but that is an authentic Base Set Raichu, not an authentic “Prerelease Base Set Raichu”.
There is no evidence that there was ever intended to be a Prereleased Raichu card. Rogue employees who ‘intended’ to create one in a manner separate to the official production line do not represent a final ruling of Pokemon’s senior creative Directorship.