I remember reading something about a monk making a snake of light from a pair of gongs to scare away bandits...
I would mix in some Jojo's Bizarre Adventures for spice.

actually yeah, jojo had the stands which were pretty similar. they took orders from their masters but were also characters of the story in and of themselves.

I think the only ones that spoke were Dragon's Dream and Spice Girl and a few others...

As for system, I'd say avoid having the tulpae be all of the heavy hitting, and I'm trying to think of a reasonable way to work multiples but not coming up with anything.
I agree, though, this sounds awesome. You have the guy with the not-star-platinum that can do brain surgery via punching, you have the dude with the thing that's just invisible and intangible but it can make people go insane, you have the dude that is thoroughly convinced he has excalibur and it's speaking to him, you have the guy that just got the ability to see all this shit and be able to punch it.

And the dude that makes evil flesheating butterflies from the sounds of the bells he wears.

And the dude that can shoot memory leeches through eye contact.

And the guy that draws snakes that come to life and catch on fire.

I'm pretty sure Tulpas are in Enter the Shadowside.