His designs would have had no influence on the G2 line since it was already being produced at the time. You have to consider production time. Concept art to mass produced product reaching stores takes time. It does seem early to be revamping their line at that point. Maybe 2008 if G2 had already flopped in US markets. They were still sold in Europe until 2003, though. The edgier pics could have been more of a joke than an actual pitch. He could have his dates slightly off too. I would look at his resume, and other jobs to verify the authenticity. If he was involved in similar projects, I could buy it. Nice art and interesting article.