Leonard Nimoy honored by thousands in a moment of silence and Vulcan salute

Thousands of attendees of the Long Beach Comic Expo observed a moment of silence in memory of actor Leonard Nimoy while offering up a Vulcan salute, Hero Complex reports.

The expo opened its doors over the weekend, just days after news of Nimoy's passing became public. According to attendees speaking to the publication, the moment of silence was observed by thousands soon after the expo's opening.

Leonard Nimoy, known to generations of Star Trek fans as Mr. Spock, died last week at his home in Los Angeles. He was 83. Susan Bay Nimoy, his wife, said that the cause of death was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Nimoy was cast as a Vulcan, the only alien member of the original Star Trek crew, in 1966. It was a role that he embraced for the duration of his career, and one that he returned to as recently as 2013 in the theatrical reboot of the series where he played opposite Zachary Quinto. The New York Times notes that Spock was a role which Nimoy expressed ambivalence toward as shown in his two autobiographies, titled I Am Not Spock from 1977 and I Am Spock in 1995.

The outpouring of emotion follows last week's announcement from the makers of massively multiplayer game Star Trek Online of plans to erect an official, standing in-game memorial to Nimoy.

The memorial will appear following the sci-fi MMO's regularly scheduled maintenance on March 5, according to executive producer Steve Ricossa. "In this way, we hope to keep his memory as alive in our game as he is in all of our hearts," he wrote. "LLAP."

This refers to the now famous phrase "live long and prosper," the valediction Nimoy gave in performing one of pop culture's most iconic roles. Nimoy's death touched off a wave of public mourning, not limited to just fans of Star Trek or science fiction, in social media, comments to news posts, and also video games.

In Star Trek Online yesterday evening, at least 1,000 players spontaneously traveled to the in-game world of Vulcan to pay their respects. Reddit user MrMorlonelycat snapped an image of the event. You can check out some images from the Long Beach comic expo at Hero Complex.