This is a rough idea of what I have in mind for the backdrops.

Quick update - I got the telescopic arms working how I want them - they shoot out like grappling hooks and retract like the cable on a vacuum cleaner which works really well and adds some character just through the way the physics acts on them.

I've been trying to get the visual style of the game more clearly defined. I was thinking a collage type approach would work. The only problem with this is that collage tends to be made of paper and I need to have a sense of weight to the main character, so what I'm thinking now is a combination of paper collage for the farther away backgrounds and then some more metallic imagery for foreground elements and characters. I might be over thinking it and this will probably all change later.

I made a title screen to try out the style. I'm also toying with the idea of changing Robots to Robot as I don't think the game will be multi-player.