Company Man - S1-E17
Continuity mistake: At the end of this episode, Noah is having a flashback. It shows Claire helping him pick out his new glasses. In this scene, Noah first tells Claire that she is adopted. However, in the episode "One Giant Leap", Claire tells Brody Mitchell that her parents told her that she was adopted when she was really little. In "Company Man" she is around 14 or 15 years of age in the flashback.
Continuity mistake: When Sylar comes for Isaac the painting of Hiro and the dinosaur is visible in the studio in several shots, even though Hiro took this painting to Linderman several episodes ago. The episode director even comments on it during the audio commentaries.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Mr. Bennet, Matt Parkman and Ted Sprague are at the used car lot, Ted is using his powers to defrost a blue station wagon. As the frost is melting you see "Automatic" written on the windshield. The shot cuts to Bennet and Matt talking by the pay phone. When the Shot returns to Ted, he's finished defrosting, but you see "Low Mileage! 1 Owner" written on the windshield instead. Ted didn't switch cars during the conversation because written on the used car beside the blue wagon is "Like New" for both shots.
Continuity mistake: This mistake is repeated in the next episode too. After D.L kills Linderman he is lying face down, his face is flat against the floor and we can see right into the hole in is head, he has already stopped moving. Then after the camera starts to pan around, Linderman's head is now facing right, and we get a good look at his face.
How to Stop an Exploding Man - S1-E23
Continuity mistake: When Parkman is shooting at Sylar in Kirby Plaza, he fires four shots. But when we see the bullets hovering in the air before Sylar's hand, just before he flings the bullets back toward Parkman, there are five of them. (00:35:30)
How to Stop an Exploding Man - S1-E23
Continuity mistake: Hiro's sword changes position between the shot in which Hiro arrives to the scene and the shot when he is about to kill Sylar.
(Volume Two: Generations) Four Months Later... - S2-E1
Continuity mistake: When Claire hugs Mr. Bennet she is holding her note in her right hand. In the next shot as she turns around and runs off to school the note is in her left hand.
Continuity mistake: When Alejandro finds Maya outside the tunnel, she has black ooze from her eyes running down her cheeks. As he starts his healing, we get a close-up shot of how the ooze fades and disappears from Maya's face. But in the next shot of her face, when she falls forward, the black stuff is back on her cheeks. It's gone again in the next shot of her. (00:29:20)
Continuity mistake: Season 2, ep. 3, "Kindred". When Peter gets the box with his belongings back from the Irishmen, as Caitlin says "Well?" Peter's hands are in his lap. The angle changes to Peter, who answers "Well, what?" and he suddenly has both hands on the box, with no time to move them between shots. (00:35:55)
Continuity mistake: When Claire and West are talking about their abilities on the beach, the close up shots of Claire show that she is wearing earrings, the camera goes to West but when it focuses on Claire again she is no longer wearing them.
Continuity mistake: When Maya is arrested, she starts manifesting her powers on the policeman. In a close-up, we can see the black ooze coming out of her eyes. Cut to a shot from above, when the policeman's eyes turn black and he drops the handcuffs, and Maya's cheeks are suddenly clean again, with no trace of the black stuff. (00:33:45)
Continuity mistake: Season 2, episode 10, "Truth and Consequences": In the previous episode, "Cautionary Tales", when Noah was brought back to life he regenerated, then sat up, looked around him and said something sounding like "Home". In this episode, when the exact same scene is shown, we see Noah regenerating and sitting up, but this time he just looks straight ahead before lying back down, and does not say anything. (00:05:50)
Continuity mistake: Season 2, episode 11, "Powerless":. In Mohinder's kitchen, when Sylar cocks the hammer of the gun he is holding on Mohinder, he is holding the gun with his arm straight and the gun completely level. The angle changes just as Sylar says "Maya, I need you to stay calm", and now his arm is close to his body and bent so the gun is pointing at Mohinder at an upwards angle. There was no time for him to move his arm in between shots. (00:03:30)
Continuity mistake: Maya's necklace disappears between shots when she accuses Sylar of killing her brother.
Continuity mistake: Right before Sylar shoot Maya, you can see she already has a bullet wound on her chest.
Continuity mistake: When Claire Bennett is cutting Peter Petrelli's chest she makes two cuts then the angle changes and the blood is gone, the angle changes again and it is back.
Our Father - S3-E12
Continuity mistake: "Our Father". At the end of the previous episode, "The Eclipse, Part 2", Hiro brought Claire to the rooftop of the Deveaux building to witness Kaito handing over baby Claire to Noah Bennet. To illustrate his point, Hiro showed Claire the exact same thing happening in the "9th wonder" comic book he brought with him, and she can follow the Japanese dialogue from there. But when the exact same scene is shown at the beginning of this episode, Hiro does not show Claire the comic at all.
Continuity mistake: When Claire is looking at the "Alice in Wonderland" dust jacket, she holds in one hand looking at the back cover, then in the next shot, she's holding it with both hands looking at the front cover. (00:24:40)
Continuity mistake: When Sylar is impersonating Nathan, the knot on his tie keeps changing between scenes.
Acceptance - S4-E4
Continuity mistake: The second time Hiro goes to the rooftop and tries to save Tadashi he has ink on his face from stopping the photocopier from working. However when we cut back to him from Tadashi the ink has vanished, then when we do get the next shot of him the ink is back on his face again.
Chosen answer: It's not been made 100% clear. It was originally assumed that he actually consumed part of the brain, but this has turned out not to be the case. Sylar has been shown all along to have an instinctive knowledge of how things work and how to fix them - this is his actual original power and the ability that made him an exceptional watchmaker and repairer. It appears that he uses a similar process when acquiring new powers - he exposes the brain of the target, allowing him to examine it and determine how their power functions. He can then apply that knowledge to his own brain, allowing him to replicate the ability in question.
Tailkinker ★