He definitely should've been in his true form when he shows up on Earth in RoF. I guess some people wanted Gokuu to see Freeza in a suppressed form for the first time, but what's the point of that when Freeza pretty much immediately goes to his true form when Gokuu shows up?
And Gohan getting one-shotted by "Form 1" Freeza was pathetic to watch.
Yeah, I find Toriyama in his second run to be completely not the same level as his first run.
His first run obviously had some real issues, but it just works. There are some mistakes for sure, but most are manageable enough or the story is so good you don't even care that much and it is what it is.
Original run Toriyama was in a flow state and he expired that genius when he retired the first time. The second comeback was a soulless, exhausted version of his genius, only to save the world from the nonsense TOEI was going to put out.
Gohan should absolutely have maintained his Ultimate form and had a better showing.
I mean, Freeza shouldn't even be coming back at all. It's dumb.