I don't see it as 'too close'. That assumes that Hasbro owns the transforming robot license and that's not true.

Hasbro owns Transformers but not the concept of transforming robots. Heck, even the general 'G1 Transformer aesthetic' is not owned by Hasbro. As long as you keep your characters original and do not use any trademarked imagery or terms, you are perfectly legal and not 'getting too close' at all.