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Just use R.O.Y. G. B.I.V. for levels of "hot".

I like the bright blue, but I'm liking the sound of purple...

I use blue for all my plasma weapons. I don't know why, it just feels and looks right.

I don't think there is really official color.

Plasma color depends almost entirely on which gas you use. Almost any color is achievable since different gases shake/vibrate at different frequencies when heated (based on atomic weight?).

Technically, the gun can be any colour you want, since the "plasma" is the projectile the model "shoots". The light on the top could be for asthetics, to indicate ammo levels, for ease of identification on a cluttered battlefield. There's no rule that says the the plasma and the colour of the light correlate.

I go with Blue, but a much lighter blue than my Marines are painted. No particular reason.

As has been said it depends on what gas is used, I have never seen or heard of GW making any official color code for plasma weapons based off of which race is using the weapon so I have no clue where any of you saying it's based off race are getting that idea.

In the novels, there are several different color descriptions for every energy weapon. I've read that lasguns fire blue, red and green bolts. Meltas have different colors as well. It's because they all depend on several factors for their color properties, among others type of gas, atmosphere content where the weapon is fired, velocity. Probably more. But for plasma weapons, it definitively depends which gas you use, and in the context of this game, nearly any gas will do. Follow your own opinion..

For some reason I always figured the plasma in question would be so hot and have so much energy that looking at it would permanently blind you so the color would really be whatever color the shield is over the core. That being said, I use white plasma as it contrasts nicely with my red plasma cannons.

Yes, the science has been well explained. I like green myself, but that's just personal preference (I like using necron glow rods).

The one thing that I will note is that this...



has always bugged me.

The thing on the top of a plasma gun is a HEAT SINK. Heat sinks DO NOT GLOW.

The only time when they would get so hot that they'd be glowing is if the plasma gun itself were melting, meaning that whenever you see a plasma gun done up like this, it is literally in the process of a "gets hot!"

But, of course, it's not even that. If plasma guns are manufactured out of steel, then they glow red/orange when they melt. If you want it to be blue, then what you're looking at is the miniscule fraction of a second where plasma has burned its way out of the gun, but right before it horribly explodes in a giant plasma blast.

Either way, I wouldn't want to bestow such a fate on my minis.

I think the blue glow is the most likely colour of a plasma gun as plasma will tend to be "white" hot and bright blue is a good way of representing that. The picture above does that well.
Peoples assertions that the colour of the gas will dictate the colour is not entirely correct, to get a true plasma the elements being excited will tend to be so hot (read excited) that they will be stripped of electrons and be ionised. At these energy levels the electromagnetic radiation will be closer to the UV region and will tend to be blue. Reds are lower energy EMR.
Of course you need to be clear on what the "emitter" on the gun is for, if it is a heat sink it could tend to be red in colour as it would be emitting heat as Infrared, but if it was a containment field for the building plasma discharge, it is highly likely to be blue.
Well thats my turn at theorycrafting

spiraleddie wrote: Well thats my turn at theorycrafting

You're theorycrafting, but some of us posted actual evidence to support our arguments See the first page, and the images I linked to in it.

GW don't even paint the magnetic coils on their plasma guns because, for them to be glowing, they'd have to be overheating

I guess that means that they'd only glow if said model has rolled 'gets hot'

Personally I go for rule of cool and would agree that you should paint whatever colour compliments your army... I tend to gravitate towards blue but, of course, my Nurgle CSM are getting purdy green plasma weaponry ;P

In whichever Ciaphas Cain novel involves the Tau, when they come under fire from pulse rifles, they're described as being blinding flashes, sorta like small suns (the projectiles).

I have a green plasma gun in my regualr CSM squad, but my Plague Marines are getting a red one for contrasting with their colors.
As said, choose the color you prefer.

Purples/greens for me.

IMO blue is overused.