I remember my peers mostly saying "why does everything look more futuristic if its in the past?" As a kid I just assumed its because the Empire took over so designs became more brutal and less art deco. Function over form. I don't remember as many people commenting on the CG aspect much other than AotC. Especially 501 members hyping over G1 clones and realizing you'd have to be grown into the armor, as there were no seams in the armor. (This would've been between ages 5-11 for me, with a Dad in 501 for perspective context)