As long as there’s context for the comparison I have no issue with G1 comparisons.
Sure, G1 Starscream the unposeable partsformer doesn’t stack up against a lot of more modern Transformers, but in the context of the 1984 Transformers, he’s not a notably bad toy. Reflector was a Partsformer mess. Prime has add on fists that can’t hold his gun.
If we’re just doing a direct comparison between a G1 toy and a modern toy without that time setting context... well then yeah. Rose coloured glasses may be relevant.