The original Gothickingcobra52 channel.

The Gothickingcobra52 saga marks Josh's first foray into content creation, and features his early content such as his first three albums, his “Guitar insites” and the Punishment Haircut. The saga officially starts on June 13th, 2010 and ends July 19th, 2011, followed by The Job Corps Saga.

• A young Josh Saunders: This is the very beginning of the madness. Joshua Fay Saunders, a short-haired, rebellious teenager with a troubled upbringing and a whole load of angst. He would take up smoking soon, and alcohol later on. His hair would remain short for the majority of the time in this saga due to constant “Punishment haircuts” by his father, Clint Saunders.

Josh first appears on YouTube under the name “gothickingcobra52” on June 13th, 2010. He refers to himself simply as “Gothic King Cobra”, describing himself as a “sexy gothic musician who enjoys playing electric guitar and singing” who “[hopes] to be a famous musician one day when I get my first cd done”. At this point, Josh has recently graduated high school and lives with his parents. He begins to upload videos discussing current events, his beliefs, and his music. He has a middle-parted bowl cut and the Norwood Reaper has yet to rear its bald head at this stage.

Josh gets in his routine of making daily videos, referring to his viewers as “YouTube”, and starts to take the shape of the YouTube personality as seen today. Many of Josh's earlier videos are part of a series titled “Guitar Insight”, where he explains his guitar methods and techniques while “speaking his mind” on “stupid random shit that pisses [me] off”. The majority of this content is Josh going off on various subjects including social taboos, boy bands he deemed homosexual in nature, and similar rants before ending by randomly strumming on his guitar, showing off his supposed musical prowess.

At some point during this era, Josh has brief stints working at the local Burger King, as well as a pizza restaurant. He has provided minimal detail about these two jobs. Following a video where Josh complained about the hours he got working at Burger King, a co-worker showed the video to Cobes' manager, forcing Josh to make what may have been Youtube's first apology video.

During this time, Josh debuts his first album - Blood Cemetery - Which he had to cut down from the initial twenty songs, additionally redoing a number because he lost a few of the songs. This is also the advent of what would become Josh's most well-known handle: KingCobraJFS. Combining his favorite animal with his initials, the name would cement itself as part of his legacy for years to come. Attempting to break into the music business, Josh would send a copy of his CD to Simmons Records, but to no response. Josh would continue to work on his musical ability by adding vocal covers to his repertoire, starting with Papa Roach's “Forever”.

While still under the Gothickingcobra52 moniker, Josh also introduces his ventriloquist dummy Shon during this time as a part of his comedy skit series titles “Shon and Saunders”. Shon is a Charlie McCarthy puppet that he received as a gift during childhood from his parents that Josh would give a gothic coat of paint to make him more creepy. Shon would feature as a recurring character in his early videos, seemingly as a way to critique his own actions.

In January 2011, Josh's second album Darken Days would be released on iTunes, to lukewarm reception. The album features tracks about how much he hates his biological mother, The Holocaust, and a coven of Satanic stoners. Not long after this he would announce his work on his next musical project The Highway of Life while at the same time applying to the Boxelder Job Corps in Utah, likely being helped(or pressured into it) by his dad. Josh would eventually come round to the idea of going, citing that it would be a good way to earn a living “until [his] music career took off”.

Josh's first big break in youtube came in the form of his semi-viral video, “F*ck the mainstream”. The video would entail a long-winded rant about the mainstream making everything “trendy”, lamenting that even becoming anti-authority would eventually become trendy. Josh would go on to say that he's a “real goth” unlike the numerous “mall goths” that are only using the aesthetic “to piss off their parents and say 'fuck society' […] and have no core goth beliefs”. More importantly, Josh would debut the Gothic Clocktower Dream House by means of a pencil-and-paper sketch. This would be the first introduction of Cobra's Magic to a larger crowd, and many would attribute this video as the start of their interest in the Boglim to-be.

In a video out of the blue, Josh would admit to stalking and sexually harassing a girl he liked during high school, expressing regret for his actions. He would attempt to apologize over facebook, but would get blocked before he could deliver the message. This would also be one of the first times Josh would say he had Asperger's Syndrome. Around this time, Josh would also mention that a trole was texting him in an attempt to piss him off. Josh would release The Highway of Life on iTunes shortly after, on May 17th, 2011. Much like his previous albums, his success would be limited, despite the second track dedicated to hating his biological mother.

After an altercation involving his dogs and the Neighborhood Watch believing him to be a criminal, Josh and Clint would get into an argument about smoking that would cost Josh his eyeliner, his rings, his nail polish, and his other gothic effects. Josh would retaliate by posting a video of him smoking inside the house while Clint and Josh's step-mom were away on vacation. He would spitefully reclaim his eyeliner while doing so, and lament that he had been let go by Burger King, claiming that he was trying to work both at Burger King and Wal-Mart at the same time(A job he would claim to have, although this is never proven). He would take the opportunity to complain about his former co-workers, including a pregnant woman.

In a video titled “A message to all trolls on my channel”, Josh would expose his fully-erect Cobra jr. and receive a 2-week ban. This would cause him to create a new channel titled PeachMonster666 to evade the ban. He would further attempt to circumvent this ban by wearing a Halloween mask and attempting to speak in a deeper, guttural voice. He would use this cover to also try to sneak into troll communities, although it's debatable how effective this was. Josh would return to his account after the two week ban was up. During this two-week ban, he would meet a girl and subsequently cut contact after discovering she was not of age(Fuck sickos TWU), and start working at a Taco Bell.

Josh received word from the Job Corps that he would be shipping out on the 17th, which caused Taco Bell to “Fire him on the spot”. Josh would spend the remainder of this saga unemployed and working on his fourth album, The Darkness. On July 19th, 2011, Josh would ship out to Job Corps, unblocking all the trolls from his channel, and debuting his very first Drink Combo - Arizona Iced tea, Triple Sec, Puerto Rico Tequila, Armanto Liquer, and Monster Import Dub. He would also get another Facebook girlfriend by the name of Alyssa, who would send him a picture of her cleavage later on. He would eventually break up with her before the Job Corps Saga for cheating on him. His final video before leaving was a display of his Bog Magic - a video titled "Chi ball" released July 19th, 2011. Josh would spend this video attempting to demonstrate a Chi ball to the camera, although no magic orb can be seen. The very same day, the channel content of Gothickingcobra52 would be deleted, and Clint would announce on Facebook that Josh had been sent to Job Corps, ending the Gothickingcobra52 saga and beginning the Job Corps Saga.

Much like the early days of Black Sabbath, Joshua's early foray into Youtube would be rife with controversy and struggle. It is in this crucible of strife that the boglim phoenix would rise from the ashes like a half-dead cobra from a crushed egg, howling at inanimate objects and drinking until he passed out, hair follicles be damned.

• Approximately 96 videos from the Gothickingcobra52 era have survived.
• This would be one of the only arcs when Josh used a strap for his guitar, where he would wear it incorrectly. Despite commenters attempting to correct him, Josh would refuse to change.
• Josh would replace his phone 1 time during this saga.

KingCobraJFS - Part 2: Gothickingcobra52 by Bitesize Cobra Vids