Most people didn't love the way the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looked in their recent movie, what with the lips and noses and eyes. Little did those people know that it could've been worse. Much, much worse. Case in point: these new 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' concept art sketches that are far more terrifying than anything in Michael Bay's reboot.

Commissioned by Paramount back in 2011, these sketches by artist Anthony Francisco were one take on what Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael could've looked like. Francisco and his team went realistic with their take. Perhaps a little too realistic. Perhaps a little too...everything. This looks more like the 'Super 8' monster meets Lizard from 'Amazing Spider-Man' than any Ninja Turtle we've ever seen.

Francisco says of his time on the project, ""We did get a chance to meet with the producers and the meeting went well but we did not get the gig." We do not say this often, but THANK YOU MICHAEL BAY.

As for the design itself, he says they were going for much smaller shells than what you saw in the recent movie, almost as if they were "little backpacks." One of the turtles (it's unclear which as they're not wearing bandanas at all, which is one of the defining characteristics of a Ninja Turtle) is even holding two machine guns instead of a ninja weapon.

So, if you walked out of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' thinking it was a terrible movie (which, by all accounts, it is), just go to sleep tonight knowing that it could have been even more terrible. (Though don't spend too much sleep time visualizing these monsters. This is nightmare fuel.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle concept art
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle concept art
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle concept art
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[via io9]

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