Frieza would be all over Surfer before Surfer had the chance to even blink his pearly eyes and I'm not even using Golden form here. I'm talking about the Frieza during the Namekian saga.
So Surfer doesn't do things like go intangible, slow time, transmute, etc. because...well, why? Frieza isn't taking Surfer down before the guy reacts.
__________________ Chicken Boo, what's the matter with you? You don't act like the other chickens do. You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man you're a Chicken Boo.
I mean, Roshi, with a PL of 180, using a Kamehameha, destroyed the moon.... But there's no way that Goku, with a PL in the BILLIONS, using a Kamehameha, could destroy more than an island.
Makes total sense.
__________________
"I am tired of Earth. These people.
I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."
A characters readiness for the attack seems to have a lot to do with it too.vegeta for example ate Gokus kaiokenx4 kamehameha, but got his back sliced open by Yarijobe when he wasn't looking /shrug. Sure, the durabilty is different but the sheer scale and magnitude of power that he got shot with goes beyond the difference in my opinion.
It could also be a very powerful laser or just PIS. Like when the Hulk was strangled by a snake. We don't hold it against them .
That said, that didn't have anything to do with what I responded to you with lol