Is there a reason that prime weapons and such can't use other variants as skins?

[Venmere]

I like to equip the looks of the normal variants of warframes on my prime ones sometimes. What disappoints me is that I can't do so with weapons whether I once owned it or not. Same goes for kuva, vandal, wraith, prisma, and carmine either.
Even if you don't care if it becomes weaker by using the normal variant, buying weapon slots or even crafting some of the weapons that require other weapons to be crafted is just outright horrendous just because you like the look of it which is not worth it at all.
For players who are curious what weapon you are using hardly get a chance to see you holding it in a mission and it is just easier to look in the menu what someone is using.

To get past this I just tried coloring the prime to look as close to the original as possible, but it just looks janky.
It's not like we can't do the same with companions either too which confuses me as to why weapons are the only exception of not being able to equip their other variants as skins even if you had owned them at some point.

[Zakkhar]

To my understanding frame even with different skin is still the same frame with same abilities and stats (prime and non prime difference is cosmetic).

Weapons variants however are completely different weapons, with different stats and often also different mechanics.

[Venmere]

On 2024-04-03 at 5:49 AM, Zakkhar said:

To my understanding frame even with different skin is still the same frame with same abilities and stats (prime and non prime difference is cosmetic).

Prime warframes have slightly better stats than their normal counterparts but can still equip their them as skins; That can't be said the same for weapons.

[Liberator_Numen]

I've been requesting this since my tenure on PS4, but a transmog system applied to weapon variants all across the board would be the stuff of wonders. I've been wanting to use the Vaykor Hek as a skin for the Kuva Hek for a long while, but that request has been dead in the water for quite some time. It's not essential to my enjoyment of the game, but it sure would be nice to have as a genuine proof of effort on DE's behalf.

[NinjaZeku]

My Braton Prime (and Vandal) can use all the skins that are just regular Braton with texture changes,
but it can't use the base Braton look as a "skin" ... makes no sense to me.

I also still want to use the OG fingerguns on my Mesa P, I greatly prefer that design over the "just big revolvers" Prime Regulators.