Plasman Sprites look incredibly similar to the Void Suit in the TComms. I sometimes take a bit to realize it's not an RD wearing the suit when I see one. Sure the colors give it away at times, but I don't look for colors I look for shapes, since there's a lot of unique shapes in the game.
If the Suits didn't have an armor value on them for their various departments (Medical hasBio, Engineering has minor stats, Security has moderate stats, Miner has Brute, Scientist has Bomb(?)) I can see a good reason for this, but it defiantly would screw people up thinking the Plasman is something else.