Ray guns, as used by aliens, are generally differentiated from one another by their planet of origin of the beings who use them (information as culminated from a brief sampling of old 50's sci-fi films):
- Mars
Martian ray guns are usually pistol-shaped with trigger guards, and the main body designed like a series of spheres (balls) linked together so the effect is they do not look so much like weapons as they do adult novelties.
- Venus
Venoid or Venetian ray guns are more artistic then serviceable. They are vaguely wedge-shaped, with the sides of the wedge curving slightly from the widely flared butt to the forward 'flaming death apeture'. They are always green. Always.
- Alpha Centauri
Centaurian offensive weapons usually take the form of a rifle rather than a pistol. They have large, awkward and bulbous scopes whose only purpose seems to be to make it impossible for the soldier firing the weapon to hit the desired target.
- Planet X
The weaponry of Planet X is also rifle shaped, but this time they bear an amazing resemblance to a WWII service Rifle, except that they are silver and fire (probably highly caustic) glitter as opposed to bullets.