CreepSteve

CreepSteve is the non-binary ship between a Creeper and Steve from the Minecraft fandom.

Canon
Creepers were intended as hostile mobs, meaning they attack the player as soon as they enter their sight. They've been threats to the player character since the very beginning of the game, but during the testing phase, they were significantly weaker than Zombies and only exploded when slain by the player. This was later changed to Creepers being walking timebombs, approaching the player just to detonate themselves. Players are given a chance to avoid a Creeper explosion with a fight-or-flight choice: either run out of the Creeper's radius or knock it back, ideally killing it.

Already during the pre-alpha, Creepers were the only source of gunpowder, implying that being made of gunpowder is what causes them to explode. Players can use that gunpowder to make TNT, with non-lethal uses (like fireworks and splash potions) being added later. After the addition of lingering potions, players can also attack Creepers with splash potions, which will also cause Creepers to coat their explosion radius in an area effect cloud.

The alpha edition added music discs as rare drops, only appearing when the Creeper was shot by a Skeleton when killed, giving players more of a reason to engage with them. The beta edition makes Creepers more dangerous when struck by lightning, "Charged Creepers" as they are called have an even bigger explosion radius. Charged Creepers are later given a use, if a Charged Creeper explodes around an undead mob or another creeper, one of said mobs will drop their head. Heads can be used for creative decoration and later giving the player to option to disguise themselves as said mob.

The Java edition adds even more discs, along with making Creepers no longer hostile against other mobs. Additionally, Creative mode players can engage with Creepers without risk of being attacked, unless they attack first. Survival mode players can ward off Creepers by taming rare ocelots, only found in Jungle bioms. Alternatively, Snow Golems (which can only be created by the player) can toss snowballs at Creepers, but they do no damage. A later update also allows players to initiate a creeper explosion themselves with flint and steel, if they wish to do so. Fire charges were later given the same effect. Interestingly, a Creeper's hostility is only applied to the player and projectile shooting mobs, with Skeletons being the only exception. Animals that happen to harm the Creeper, like goats or pufferfish, are generally spared by them.

Fanon
Shipping between Steve and the Creeper took off in the early days of the Minecraft fandom, due to the collective agreement that the default skin of the player and the most recognizable monster are by far the biggest mascots of the franchise.

All shipping depicts the Creeper as a sentient being capable of speech. Most of the time, Steve is the straight man to a Creeper with a comedically "explosive" personality. This aligns with the fanon that Creepers are not malicious despite being classified as "hostile", they see Steve as a friend, so excited at the thought of having someone to talk to that they literally explode. Such portrayals were so accepted that people tended to forget that the game does not suggest this interpretation at all.

Sometimes, the Creeper is depicted as a human, often a cute girl with "explosive" temper wearing a green hoodie.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION